‘We want (visitors) to discover Orillia and make the town sort of a frequent stop for people,’ says official from popular downtown gallery

Visitors are travelling to Orillia from as far away as Alaska and Texas to take part in programs at Cloud Gallery, something staff say reflects the growing reach of the city’s evolving arts and culture scene.

As the downtown gallery prepares for what it describes as its busiest summer season yet, Cloud Gallery is expanding its lineup of exhibitions, artist events and art lessons while continuing to position itself as both a destination for visitors and a hub for local artists and art enthusiasts.

“Overall, year over year, we continue to just draw more attention to the fact of the gallery, including visitors that travel from all over,” said Corbin Crawford-Joslin, senior art advisor at Cloud Gallery.

Cloud Gallery’s 2026 summer and fall programming schedule includes multiple exhibitions, guest instructor-led art lessons and “meet the artist” events running through October.

The gallery’s art lesson series will feature guest instructors Maria Iva and Kerry Walford throughout the summer, while artist events are scheduled with Dana Cowie, Jennifer Woodburn, Michelle Paradis, Walford, Holly Ann Friesen and Brigitte Granton.

The gallery will also host two major exhibitions this summer, including the “My Happy Place Show” beginning May 29 and the “Great Big Summer Show” beginning July 31.

Crawford-Joslin said the gallery’s growing schedule is about more than simply displaying artwork.

“It’s really cultivating this beautiful arts community that we have here in Orillia,” he said. “And we’re just helping promote it even more so with all these events coming up.”

While Peter Street is commonly recognized as the city’s Arts District, Crawford-Joslin said Cloud Gallery sees itself as part of the broader arts and culture movement continuing to grow throughout Orillia.

“Orillia’s arts and culture is historic through Mariposa, through Stephen Leacock, all different things like that,” he said. “For us at Cloud Gallery, especially the owners, Mark and Blake Fletcher, whose roots are embedded in Orillia, myself included … we just want to help cultivate the arts and culture in the town.”

Part of that effort, he explained, is creating opportunities for aspiring artists and visitors to engage directly with professional artists through lessons and interactive events.

“There are a lot of resources still in town where you can do more hobby-level art classes and things like that,” he said. “But what we’re doing here with our events and with our art lessons is trying to take people to the next step with it.

“These are very successful artists and guest instructors that we’re going to be bringing in to teach these lessons,” he added. “For us, being able to host these opportunities for people and really let people take advantage of the experts while they’re here … I think overall it just raises the arts and culture sort of status quo here in Orillia.”

Crawford-Joslin said the response from both local residents and visitors has continued to grow steadily in recent years.

“So far, we get a healthy mix of people from all over,” he said. “But of course, we do have a strong core audience from people within the community and surrounding Simcoe County areas who make us a destination.”

One exhibition Crawford-Joslin said he is especially looking forward to is the upcoming “My Happy Place Show,” which invites artists to pair new works with personal stories about the inspiration behind them.

“Artists specifically create new pieces of artwork and attach short little stories or write-ups with each piece that gives a little story about where their happy place may be,” he explained. “That’s one that I really enjoy because it becomes a lot more interactive than just looking at artwork. You get to read stories behind pieces. You get to sort of look inside the artist’s mindset when they’re creating things.”

Beyond the gallery walls, Crawford-Joslin believes arts and culture organizations also play an important role in supporting tourism and the downtown business community.

“One thing that we really pride ourselves on is anytime that we attract visitors or tourists who have never even been in Orillia, one thing that we love to do is ask them if they’re looking for recommendations for food or a place to stay,” he said. “If a client is visiting from out of town, we don’t want them to just stop in the gallery and leave it there. We want them to discover Orillia and make the town sort of a frequent stop for people.”

As for the long-term future of Cloud Gallery, Crawford-Joslin said the goal is to continue growing while helping strengthen Orillia’s arts community.

“We have no plans of going anywhere anytime soon,” he said. “We plan to just continue to operate at a high level.”

For more information about Cloud Gallery and its events, click here.