Welcome to M9 Contemporary, a website showcasing works by visual artists Michael Davey and Delwyn Higgens. Michael is a sculptor and installation artist who employs photography, drawing and video and whose work often includes cast objects and found materials. Educated in Toronto at York University ( BFA ) and Edinburgh Art College ( MFA ) he has gone on to exhibit in various locations in Canada and world-wide. His pieces are in the collections of several major art institutions such as the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, the AGG, Guelph, the TOM in Owen Sound, ON and in the private and public collections of the Royal and TD Banks, Bereskin and Parr Solicitors, Nelvana Inc. among many others. He recently retired from teaching at York University and is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Fine Arts. Delwyn is a freelance curator and arts writer. She also holds academic degrees from the University of Winnipeg and York University culminating in a PhD. Here professional art practice is broad reaching including painting, drawing, sculpture and glass enamelling. She has teamed up with Michael on several large scale installation projects and beginning in 2004 partnered with him in the creation of 

M9 Contemporary in Dyers Bay, ON.

The origin of Michael’s connection to the Bruce Peninsula is in the early 1980s, when he completed a major sculpture project here. At that point he was ‘hooked’. Throughout the decade and into the 90s he came annually to draw and hike the Bruce Trail in addition to bringing groups of his undergraduate and graduate students north so that they could experience the landscape and encouragement for the development of their own art practices. Delwyn’s first trip to the Peninsula in 1989 was part of a longer trip to northern Ontario and points west. She was similarly smitten with the natural beauty of this place and after several years of renting cottages and staying in b and b’s convinced Michael that they should buy a place here. The 1940s fishing cottage at Dyers Bay seemed just right and after some renovation it has become their base for art exploration, exhibiting and the establishment of M9 Contemporary. The artists conduct their own researches here and as members of the BBPSA participate in annual studio tours. They have also taken pieces originating in Dyers Bay to other locales as part of solo and group exhibitions. Suffice it to say that the Peninsula, and especially Dyers Bay and its surroundings hold a particular kind of spell over the artists such that they continually marvel and stand in awe of its exquisite beauty and fundamental strength.  Inquiries concerning the artists' work are welcomed. 

They can be reached by email: mdavey@rogers.com and delwynh@rogers.com

At M9 Contemporary we have a rare opportunity to view the constellations unaffected by the abient glow of towns and cities. We take our inspiration from Canis Major a constellation that includes two stars of note: Sirius, the brightest star in the sky and Canis majoris, an M9 red supergiant and largest star in the sky. In this, we pay homage to our first dog, Angus the red cairn terrier, consummate sportsman and artist in his own right. The mythological Canis Major, Orion's hunting dog was said to be 'a dog so swift that no prey could outrun it'. This prey was sure to include tennis balls and frisbees.