William Dale
Published in the Pontiac Journal on April 22, 2026
SHAWVILLE – The Dumoine River Art for Wilderness (DRAW) exhibition opened with a well-attended vernissage April 11 at Café 349, showcasing works created during an annual retreat in the rugged backcountry of the western Pontiac. Organized by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s Ottawa Valley Chapter (CPAWS-OV), the show marks a decade of using art to support protection of the last undammed river in southern Quebec.
John McDonnell, executive director of CPAWS-OV, said the 2026 season will be the 10th anniversary of the DRAW retreat. Each summer, about 20 artists travel to a remote site north of Rapides-des-Joachims, a backcountry site with no electricity or running water, to immerse themselves in the landscape.
“The Dumoine is the last river in southern Quebec without a dam,” McDonnell said. “The watershed contains some of the last old-growth forests in the region. We felt that should be protected — and now, thanks to this work, it is.”
The retreat also serves as a cultural exchange. Members of Wolf Lake First Nation visit the camp to share traditional skills such as beadwork, grounding artists in the history of the territory they depict.
While many pieces in the show use traditional media, artist Eric Fletcher presents the Dumoine through a digital lens. A veteran in digital imaging, Fletcher uses a 360-degree camera to create what he calls “Little World” images.
Capturing these scenes is a complex process. Standing in the heart of the backcountry — sometimes over a waterfall or on a remote shoreline — Fletcher records roughly 45 high-resolution images covering every angle, from sky to ground. These images are stitched together using software that aligns details such as rocks and branches into a seamless panoramic file.
A digital wrapping technique then curves the horizon into a sphere, creating a self-contained landscape that captures an entire vista in a single frame.
“You get an effect that you can’t really achieve with a standard photograph,” Fletcher said. “It’s just using a different part of my brain.”
Fletcher’s work has reached a global audience. His photospheres of Antarctica from 2015 remain among the most widely viewed images of the region on Google Earth. He has been participating in the DRAW program since 2015.
The exhibition runs at Café 349 until May 29, offering local residents a chance to experience the remote “Far West” of the Pontiac through the eyes of artists.
Photo: Artist Eric Fletcher stands beside one of his “Little World” images at the DRAW exhibition at Café 349, showcasing a 360-degree view of the Dumoine River landscape. (WD)
