Renowned artist Arlie Hoffman doesn't do a lot of fishing.

Renowned bait merchant Bill "Billy Bob" Richards has never shown at a gallery.

Their paths cross in Callander for a popular exhibit looking at the business and pleasure of boating and fishing on Lake Nipissing.

"Everyone is charmed by this part of our culture," Hoffman said.

"And people don't see a lure in an art gallery."

A Lure is currently on display at the Alex Dufresne Gallery and Callander Bay Heritage Museum featuring a combination of history and art, with a mix of artifacts, painting, photography, sculpture and a video homage to the winter ice shacks, all drumming up memories and inspiring future plans to play in "big water" Nipissing.

People drop into Richards' bait shop with old tackle boxes with handmade wooden lures, and he loaned some of them when he was asked to contribute to the show that also features delicate fly fishing lures on loan from David Lewis.

It's Hoffman's departure from realistic landscapes and people as he puts brush to paper to recreate some of the handmade lures, and shares paintings featuring his beloved Giesler cedar strip boats by the Powassan boat and canoe builder.

A restored 1945 Johnson 10 horsepower motor on loan by Bernie Giesler and a Johnson 1959 5 1/2 horsepower outboard motor from Lewis frame Hoffman's large-scale painting Bail Water featuring the famous outboard.

Across the room is a wooden canoe with a sailing rig offered by Paul Waque of Callander.

It's Callander's 125th anniversary, and the goal of the show is to lure people to an exhibit who wouldn't normally go, and a reminder to support a local gallery and museum that collects and celebrates local history.

A Lure continues until July 30.

It includes a speaker series that continues June 29 with the presentation Wilderness Wanderings by Paul Chivers, Carl D'Amour will speak about ice fishing on Lake Nipissing July 6 and Carl Crewson will give a presentation about the Sportspal Canoe July 13.