Tom Tompson and the Group of Seven

Yesterday my son came home from an art research trip to the library and asked if I wanted to watch a movie. He was holding an old VHS tape on which the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) logo could be scene and a sticker that read "The Group of Seven - Tom Thompson." The documentary traced the early years of the group of seven up until its official formation in 1920, including the influence of Tom Thompson.
There is probably not a more iconic "Canadian" group of artists than the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson (who would die just a few years before the official launch of the group in 1920). Although all individuals and unique and diverse artists, they shared a passion for the rugged and beautiful Canadian landscape and a heartfelt desire to, in a small way, capture and represent a bit of the awe and inspiration they found in the vast wilderness so unique to Canada. I found myself fascinated, and perhaps a bit envious, of Tom Thompson who would venture out into Algonquin Park for weeks at a time in early Spring and into Autumn. He would return to the city only for the winter where he lived in a rented shack, pretty much pretended he wasn't in the city, and painted his larger works based on the small paintings he had done over the summer.
I see the work of others, based on images from Georgian Bay, and think of my cottage and the amazing scenery that is there.
Being a person of faith, I cannot help but see these amazing images of creation, and think of the creator. The Group of Seven help me to pause and consider the amazing creation that is around me, and that makes up this amazing country of Canada. They help me to recognize the wonder of creation, to be awed and moved by the beauty and power, the intimacy and vastness, the delicacy and ruggedness, the gentleness and ferociousness that is the Canadian wilderness. And with that, I pray, comes an awareness of how infinite and mighty, creative and powerful, loving and specific is God who imagined and then fashioned all of this with just the words of His mouth.
O, that this sense of wonder that such art helps me to ponder, would always inform my worship.