For some time, I have been gathering birch bark from fallen trees, to use either in paintings or in sculptures. I have been working sporadically on this birch bark painting over the last two years. I put it aside when I have other project deadlines or more urgent work that has to be done.  

Here's a photo taken in my backyard in late October.  I took advantage of the last warm days before winter to give it a protective coating. I still have a bit more work to do, but soon it will be finished. Some of my works mature very slowly, like this one.  

In October, I installed a piece of bisque ceramic in a pond.  I left it there for over a month so that water marks would be created on the surface of the ceramic.  I will use these marks as inspiration when I work on the final surface of the piece.  The process began when the autumn leaves were falling, after there were days of rain, ice conditions, thawing, more ice and finally falling snow.

On a dark and rainy day, I saw it, a dead bee on the belly of the piece.  I found this incident very poignant and symbolic.  Life evolves and leaves visible and invisible marks on its journey. The passage of water on the piece marked the ceramic, the passage of the bee on the belly of the piece marked my memory and deeply touched my heart. 

Starting from the beginning of spring to late fall, whenever I can, I bring my work outside.  I love working outdoors, whether I'm working on sculptural projects, nature art or on installation works.  

I love to feel the elements surrounding me, also the fertility of Earth and her wild beauty that never ceases to amaze me.  When I go for walks, I sometimes gather branches, stones or other materials that I bring back to my studio.  During the long winter months, when I touch or contemplate these objects, it brings immediately to my mind lots of memories of nature that are etched, deep inside my body and in my very soul.  

Nature is omnipresent in my life ... she is LIFE.  She is fundamental to the evolution of my work and my process as an artist.

It is said that the human eye can distinguish about 500 shades of grey.  It is also said that grey is boring, conservative and unemotional.  I find grey fascinating. It is a neutral color which goes very well with other colors.  Grey has a stabalizing effect, making soft colors stronger and bright colors softer.  To name a few, it is the color of metal, stones, volcanic ash; also of maturity, futurism and wisdom.  I love the color grey because it evoques mystery, timelessness, wisdom, changing mood, misty places and unusal atmospheres.

A multitude of images come to my mind when I think about grey color names such as: wood ash, cathedral grey, forged iron, silver fog, charcoal grey, shark skin, gunmetal, dove grey, chronium, misty grey, tarnished silver, elephant skin, ash grey, pearly grey, silvery moon, lead, sabre grey, castlerock, pewter, dolphin, slate, cinder, fossil, concrete, grey cloud, Krypton grey, stormy sky, grey hippo, silver rain, witching hour grey, deep cavern grey ...

"Mist is a living veil through which inspiration and forms swirl and softly penetrate into the depths of my imagination.  To bathe in its shrouded breath is to wrap myself with a part of nature."  Éveline Gallant Fournier

There are places where I return often, to feel and to be inspired by their energies.  These places have an atmosphere, a certain mystic which shave taken root there a long time ago.  Falls Brook is one of those places.  Not surprising that a lot of people make the trek of more than a kilometer through the forest, to go there, even in the dead of winter.

The base photograph for this digital work was one that I took at Falls Brook during the spring of this year.  I also used additional images of my sculptures, objects, and of my model, my daughter Carole Fournier. 

Over the years, I have created many images, sculptures and installations of turtle women, and I can tell you with certainty that more are coming!

A lot of things come into play while managing an artist career: writing projects, proposals - interviews for radio, television and newspapers - constant updating of cv, statement, biography, website and other social media platforms - marketing - daily correspondence, communications, public speaking - consultation - photography, documentation, archives - accounting - application for grants - mentoring - research in different techniques - self-education - participation in artistic jurys - volunteer work ... and more!  

I laugh inside just thinking of the first time that I operated a drill, electric saw, grinder, torch under my husband's worried eyes!  Challenges galore!  I love it!

Galerie Colline, Madawaska Historical Museum
Edmundston, NB
from August 12 to September 30, 2014

Beaverbrook Art Gallery
Fredericton, NB
from October 2, 2014 to January 11, 2015

at the Edmundston Art Center
Tuesday, July 29, 2014 at 5 PM

The COCOONS installation will be part of the City of Edmundston public art collection.  It will be on permanent display at the Edmundston Art Centre.  


Acknowledgments
2014 World Acadian Congress
Edmundston Art Center
Regional Development Corporation

Thanks to all of you; your funding helped in realizing this historical work.

One of my goals with the "Seed Catcher" project is to recycle/reutilise different sculptural elements of this series into new compositions.

Exhibition "Seed Catchers" at the FAVA 2014.  I was a great pleasure and an honor to have been the godmother of the 18th edition of the festival.  

I always try to document the name of the places where I create landart or installations, but sometimes, it is practically impossible to do so.  Here's one of them, created in the middle of the forest, somewhere at about 80 kilometers from the city of Edmundston, off road, no signs in the vicinity, no name to the place.  

This installation is part of a series titled "AB OVO", a latin expression meaning from the egg, at inception, going back to the first origins.

I know where I'm going, but where will I stop on the way?  For me, it is chance, instinct, spontaneity or fate that decides, in a large part, the answer to this question.

At the beginning of the week, I left for Caraquet with more than an hour of spare time before my meeting.  I had brought with me a couple of objects, just in case I would have the opportunity to do an art installation.  On the way, I decided to stop for gas in the small village of Janeville. Being born and having grown close to water, the sea always calls to me like a magic flute.  Naturally, I asked if there was an access to a public beach in the area. A very nice lady tells me of two different places nearby.  I decide to go back up the road for a couple of kilometers. There, I found a beautiful beach partially covered with snow and blocks of ice.  In my hour of spare time, I created two installations. I included photos of one of those installations with this text.

One fabulous hour, deeply enjoyed and savoured completely; and also a very nice meeting with the owner of the land adjacent to the beach who invites me to stop again if I'm in the area.  LIFE is beautiful!!!  

LandArt is an essential part of my work.  Before I begin, I always take the time to breathe deeply until it seems as if time stands still.  I listen to and feel all that is present in the environment and imagine what is beyond that which my eyes can perceive.  These moments of silence that precede my work enables me to contemplate the fragile, complex and often poetic relations that exist in nature, and also the relations that humans have with nature.

I am never sure of what will happen.  I work intuitively.  I use natural materials found on site.  I also use the contours, the elevations, the depressions in the earth, also the layers, the contrast and depth in the landscapes so that the works can dialogue with the environment.  I love the challenges of working with limited means and materials and also the ephemeral nature of this type of work. Creating this way always makes me feel grateful, in reverence and enchanted with the Earth and for Life.

This image shows details of a more than 5 foot tall, wall clay sculpture.  I'm using this piece to measure the amount of clay shrinkage resulting from the air drying phase and also the bisque and glazing phases. The amount of shrinkage is not the same in a large clay sculpture as in a a small clay object; also, flat and curved surfaces do not dry in the same manner.  I needed to integrate metal to the sculpture, that is why I needed to study and measure.  I also tested glazes, on the front yes, but also on the back.  That's OK ... it is the hidden/secret part of the piece.

This wall sculpture is a warm up, preparing me for what I will be working on in the next few weeks, that is the modeling of a sculptural clay/metal element that will be part of an installation.  This ongoing process in research and experimentation in large clay sculpture is part of my artist residency at the Centre des arts de la petite église d'Edmundston.

I usually work in digital art when I'm in between processes or projects.  To me, working in digital art is like drawing, the files on the hard drive are like pages in my sketchbook.  

I begin the same way as I do for a drawing, with a blank page, in this case a blank screen; and substitute the crayons and pigments for electronic tools and colored pixels.  The computer allows me to discover what is possible in the creation of an image like no other medium.  The paint is never dry, the exposure or contrast are always redoable and unlimited additions or substractions of image particles are possible.  In the end, I just need to decide when the image is done.

I use realistic or abstract images that I have captured with my camera of patterns, forms or colors found in the natural environment, or photographs of my own sculptures or of live models.  These images are layered, cut, pasted, drawn or painted on using digital brushes and other electronic tools. The final image created is often that of an imagined landscape, exploring the mysteries, the nuances and the enigmatic qualities of nature.