Angus Trudeau spent his working life as a sailor and cook aboard the Lake Huron commercial ships. He devoted his spare time, and his retirement years to painting and model building. Trudeau's language was Ojibwe and he spent virtually his whole life on or around Manitoulin Island, and in later life, on the Wikwemikong Reserve, where he was much admired by the younger generation of the Woodland School of painters.

Trudeau's inspiration is drawn from the world of Manitoulin, although his vision is imbued with deeply personal insight. His subjects (the lake freighters and ferry boats, the bygone community buildings and events), are often portrayed through the diapason of memory or through reference materials he collected.

The a...