Arthur Shilling

Arthur Shilling’s paintings hang in the Art Gallery of Ontario and the McMichael Collection: a recognition of the importance of his work.

Born in 1941 in Rama, near Orillia, Ontario to Ojibwa parents, Shilling attended the Mohawk Institute Residential school in Brantford and the Ontario College of Art. Much of his work depicts landscapes and life on the Rama Reserve where he died in 1986. One of Shilling’s specialties was painting people in his community, often in a broad impressionist style as in the Portrait of Old Mike (as seen in his artwork below).

In 1975, Arthur and Thomas Beckett Sr. began working together. Their mutual respect and friendship ignited Arthur’s career and the connection between the Shillings and Beckett Fine Art.

Click on the artwork below for details.