“Barren Ground Caribou is a continuation of the ecological theme in my work... [It] expresses aspects of the public’s growing awareness of their environment and its preservation. A subway station is an obvious place to make an offering to nature.” - Joyce Wieland, 1975  

Picture this, if you can: Toronto in the mid-1970s. Like Montreal and New York City, it’s a burgeoning metropolis that necessitates rapid expansion. To meet the moment, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) plans for nine new subway stops reaching north from the city’s core, each station to include public art commissions by Canadian artists.  

Toronto born and raised, Joyce Wieland (1930 – 1998), was one of these selected artists. For her commission, the renowned artist chose to locate her artwork at Spadina subway station’s unassuming Kendal Avenue entryway (a late 19th-century house repurposed by the City). Measuring a massive nine meters long and two and a half meters tall, Barren Ground Caribou (image at top) is the largest quilt Wieland ever made, extending the width of the two subway tracks beneath it.  

In her 1975 proposal to the TTC she wrote, “While running towards the lower level to catch a train in a subway, one is confronted with a depiction of a group of Barren Ground Caribou in quilted form. Like prehistoric beasts, they are placed in the modern technological cave of the subway. (Altamira) Let us remember these marvelous beasts before they are no more.”  Wieland was deliberate in her location choice for her quilt on the mezzanine level of the station, away from direct light for protection.  Placed behind glass, a herd of caribou roam across a pastel-coloured Arctic landscape, pale blue sky above them – a poignant juxtaposition to the fast-paced city life just steps away. One of the caribous even has pink antlers.  

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Deinstallation of Joyce Wieland, Barren Ground Caribou, 1977-1978, at Spadina Subway Station, Toronto, 2025. Artwork © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: Lexie Buchanan © AGO.

Deinstallation of Joyce Wieland, Barren Ground Caribou, 1977-1978, at Spadina Subway Station, Toronto, 2025. Artwork © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: Lexie Buchanan © AGO.

Deinstallation of Joyce Wieland, Barren Ground Caribou, 1977-1978, at Spadina Subway Station, Toronto, 2025. Artwork © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: Lexie Buchanan © AGO.

Deinstallation of Joyce Wieland, Barren Ground Caribou, 1977-1978, at Spadina Subway Station, Toronto, 2025. Artwork © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: Wendy So © AGO

The quilt has long been a fixture at Kendal Avenue since its unveiling in 1978. Now, almost half a century later, Wieland’s “marvelous beasts” are on the move. First stop: the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA).  

This is Wieland’s first major retrospective in 35 years, and it is the first time that her monumental quilts have been brought together. Featuring over 100 works, including recently restored films, Joyce Wieland: Heart On highlights the trailblazing artist’s five decades of radical artmaking and activism. Organized by the AGO and MMFA, the exhibition is curated by Georgiana Uhlyarik, Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art, AGO and Anne Grace, Curator of Modern Art, MMFA. It’s on view now at the MMFA until May 4 and opens at the AGO on June 21.  

Installation views, Joyce Wieland: Heart On, February 8 – May 4, 2025, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: MMFA, Denis Farley

In the forthcoming catalogue for Heart On (launching June 2025), Uhlyarik explains that caribou first appeared as a motif in Wieland’s work in 1970, in a cartoon she published in Canadian Forum. In her extensive research of caribou for her TTC commission, Wieland found inspiration in a photograph by caribou biologist Robert Ruttan in the 1965 book Tuktu: A Question of Survival / The Caribou of the Northern Mainland. For eight months, she worked with a team of women to make the quilt, including her sister, Joan Stewart, who oversaw the project. They made Barren Ground Caribou by hand-stitch, quilting and appliqué. Made of cotton, the quilt is stuffed, giving it a pillowed effect.  

Group photo of quilters and assistants in front of Barren Ground Caribou in studio on Ryerson Avenue, Toronto, 1977: Joyce Wieland (second from left), Joan Stewart, Wieland’s sister (centre), Sara Bowser (white sweater). York University Libraries, Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, Avrom Isaacs fonds, ASC05199
 

In early December last year, Barren Ground Caribou was carefully de-installed and transported by a team of art handlers and conservators as part of the preparation for Heart On. Once the AGO exhibition closes in January 2026, the quilt will be re-installed at its original location in Spadina station.  

 

 

 

 

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Deinstallation of Joyce Wieland, Barren Ground Caribou, 1977-1978, at Spadina Subway Station, Toronto, 2025. Artwork © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: Wendy So © AGO

 

 

Deinstallation of Joyce Wieland, Barren Ground Caribou, 1977-1978, at Spadina Subway Station, Toronto, 2025. Artwork © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: Wendy So © AGO

 

 

Deinstallation of Joyce Wieland, Barren Ground Caribou, 1977-1978, at Spadina Subway Station, Toronto, 2025. Artwork © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: Wendy So © AGO

 

 

Deinstallation of Joyce Wieland, Barren Ground Caribou, 1977-1978, at Spadina Subway Station, Toronto, 2025. Artwork © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: Wendy So © AGO

 

 

This is just a sneak peek of what’s to come to the AGO later this year. Joyce Wieland: Heart On is organized by the AGO and the MMFA. The exhibition is curated by Georgiana Uhlyarik, Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art, AGO and Anne Grace, Curator of Modern Art, MMFA. The exhibition opens June 21 at the AGO.