OPG ARTWORKS
In partnership with Ontario Power Generation, Critical Mass is featuring the work of Port Hope-based artists in the OPG Nuclear Discovery Centre at 115 Toronto Road. Each season, the selected artworks of a local artist reflect on Port Hope, energy, biodiversity and an overall sense of community through the lens of each artist and their chosen medium.
Winter 2025/2026 installation
FIELD NOTES
Wesleyville-Port Hope
Artist: Luke Despatie
60” x 36”
Mixed media
2026
Field Notes brings together eight small scenes from around Wesleyville and Port Hope—places where the natural landscape, human industry, and community meet and overlap. Marsh edges, roadside views, working structures, and quiet corners of the shoreline are painted quickly and intuitively, focusing on light, colour, and atmosphere rather than precise detail.
By placing these small observations directly onto a map, the work invites viewers to reconsider familiar places. It reflects on how local environments hold layered identities that are simultaneously natural, industrial, historical, and lived-in..
Luke Despatie – An Illustrator by training, and graphic designer by trade, Luke has since found his voice in the world of contemporary landscape painting. Inspired by the diverse natural and built environments of Northumberland County, he brings vitality to everyday scenes through bold, expressive brushwork, capturing fleeting light and movement that is often overlooked.
Luke lives and works in Port Hope, but grew up in the idyllic forests surrounding Munster Hamlet where he developed his life-long passion for the indoors.
@LukeDespatieArt
lukedespatie.com
Fall 2025 installation
COMMUNITY POWER…
A Collborative Mural
Facilitated by artist Lee Higginson
Using sustainable, readily accessible, and affordable materials such as household cardboard and off-tint paints, Port Hope youth (in grades 3, 4 and 5 at Ganaraska Trail Public School) and community members of all ages (at Cultivate Festival) were invited to leave their mark this September to represent what they love about their community in the Fall season. This collaborative artwork, facilitated by artist Lee Higginson reflects Port Hope, Energy, Biodiversity and Community.
These colourful and joyous community contributions were the first art panels on display at the new OPG Nuclear Discovery Centre at 115 Toronto Road.
Lee Higginson is an emerging Port Hope artist with a visual arts practice centred around a love of community, connection and environment. She is also an arts facilitator under the identity of Fluke Craft.
Through the use of photography, found object assemblage and other mixed media, Lee’s work explores concepts of healing, joy and commemoration. Paramount to her practice is the notion that the process of art creation is every bit as important as the final product. She believes that every person has an equal right to enjoy, contribute and participate within it. Lee lives and works in Port Hope with her two teen boys, one of whom lives with autism.
@FlukeCraft
@CriticalMassArt