The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is asking 25 Canadian and Indigenous artists to create new works based on Lake Superior to mark the gallery's planned move to a new location on the city's waterfront.

The new commissions come as a result of the art gallery's receiving of a $375,000 grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, and will go to established and emerging artists from across Canada.

The works are to be completed in time for the opening of the gallery's new building, which is expected to be completed by 2020 and will be located on the shore of Lake Superior, at Thunder Bay's waterfront.

"We called this large-scale commissioning project 'madaabii,' an Ojibway word which expresses the idea of going down to the shore," gallery director Sharon Godwin said in a media release. "The gallery is taking an important step forward with our planned move to the waterfront. The commissioned works will help to express the excitement we feel about the move."

Among the artists selected to receive the commissions are:

Jean Marshall of Thunder Bay

Roland Martin of Thunder Bay

Christian Chapman of Fort William First Nation

Frank Shebageget of Upsala/Ottawa

Cheryl Wilson Smith of Red Lake

Patricia Deadman of Woodstock

Sonny Assu of Campbell River

Usala A. Johnson of Dartmouth

The art gallery is one of 200 recipients of the funding, which comes under the Canada Council for the Arts' New Chapter initiative.