Du 20 janvier au 16 mars 2008

Sous la présidence d'honneur de
Michel Lessard
Historien


«Objets de Cultures:
de la Nouvelle-France à aujourd'hui»
Collectif multidisciplinaire
Clodet Beauparlant vannerie
Mira Coviensky reliure
Michel Filion reliure
Jacques Fournier reliure
Chantal Gilbert coutellerie d’art Léopold L. Foulem céramique
Rosie Godbout textile
Goyer-Bonneau céramique
Etienne Guay ferronnerie d’art
Michael Hosaluk tournage sur bois
Michel Latouche joaillerie
Marcel Marois tapisserie
Michael D. Massie orfèvrerie
Monique G.-L. Picardcéramique
Janine Parentcéramique
Gilbert Poissant céramique
Peter Powning céramique
Patrick Primeau verre
Mireille Racine chapellerie
Isabel Rorick vannerie
Maurice Savoie céramique
Natasha St. Michael céramique
Ione Thorkelsson verre
Jean Vallières verre

Culture Objects: From New France to Today
I have always greatly appreciated culture objects. I’ll say it openly: fine objects. The artworks or handcrafted works we see with our heart and which give us a delightful quiver in the pit of our stomachs. The rare objects we brush with the tips of our fingers, but also the ordinary objects we choose and treat with an importance befitting their use. All those collectable objects we protect from the effects of time or, on the contrary, to which we impart a patina through repeated use precisely because we love them so much. It is commonly said of them that they are fine objects. They accompany us through life and give it greater value. Most of these culture objects have received the energy of an artisan’s hand—the vitality conferred upon “worked” materials that marvellously transforms them. It was thus as a fervent lover of these objects that I took on the job of curating this exhibition, with profound respect for the materials and the artists who work them. I approached the task with deeply held feelings, travelling from the present to the past and back again, using a desire for form as my “search engine.”
The principal inspiration for the exhibition Culture Objects: From New France to Today is the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City in 2008. The idea came quite simply, and derives from the magnificent and inescapable call of history. One of the features of handcrafted work is that it is part of people’s everyday lives. Pairing significant artefacts from New France with contemporary handcrafted work makes it possible to bridge time, to create links between different kinds of know-how, across every culture and era in question. The exhibition Culture Objects: From New France to Today is thus a personal look at the forms of yesterday and today in the hope of making visible their “eternal present.”

Sylvie Royer, exhibition curator