Travel through time with the 'Collingwood Then & Now' art exhibit

Retired art director and painter David Warren curated the 'Collingwood Then & Now' art exhibit. (CTV News/KC Colby)

The area that is now Collingwood was once a battle site where the Huron tried to fight off the invading Iroquois in the 1600s – 200 years later, it would officially be incorporated as a town.

You can now travel through the ages at the 'Collingwood Then & Now' art exhibit at the public library, with the tales told through artistic interpretations on canvas.

Retired art director and painter David Warren curated the exhibit to include the town's highs and lows along Nottawasaga Bay, including the history of the shipyards, the great fire of 1881 and Collingwood's first railway station.

"I hope it gets people more interested in Collingwood history, and once they realize there's a lot of stuff they never knew, it will draw them in, so I've started doing a lot of reading on history, and I'm 85 years old," chuckled Warren who added the historical research before putting paint to canvas was fascinating motivation.

The exhibit, found in the Art Walk Gallery on the ground floor of the Collingwood Library, even shares imagery of the historic 'Gayety Theatre,' home to a quirky sign with an equally colourful story.

From long-gone mainstay hotels to shipyard moments along the Georgian Bay, the 'Collingwood Then & Now' exhibit is free to all during regular library hours, and visitors are encouraged to donate non-perishable food for the library's food pantry program.