WOODigit involves the control of over a hundred wooden units which, by moving to different heights, display numerals as in a programmed system. Instead of using microchips and electronic circuits to program, the mechanism had been woven as a big matrix with threads, and supported by a specially designed wooden structure and pulley system. The use of wood as a material and the loom-like structure of this piece refer to the renowned Jacquard Loom. The Jacquard loom with its punch-card system, used to store programs for complicated weaving patterns, inspired early computing machinery.
Lynne et Vincent: Aimez-vous les uns les autres | Louise Lemieux Berube
Visiting Artist Talk | Louise Lemieux Bérubé
March 19, 2010 | 6:30 PM
Stanford Perrott Lecture Theatre | ACAD
Reception | Main Mall | ACAD | 6:00 PM
The Alberta College of Art + Design Fibre Department is pleased to present an artist talk by internationally recognized pioneer of Jacquard weaving and co-founder of the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles, Louise Lemieux Bérubé.
This talk is part of the Fibre Department’s annual “Fibre Fortnight” events. Please join us before the talk for a reception at 6:00 pm in the main mall. Following the talk there will be an opportunity for final bids before the closing of the Miniature Show Silent Auction at 8:30 pm. The Fibre Department gratefully acknowledges the support of the ACAD Visiting Artist Fund and the generous contributions of students, alumni and faculty who contributed to last year’s Miniature Show Silent Auction.
ALL ARE WELCOME. ADMISSION IS FREE.
To learn more about Louise Lemieux Berube, visit her WEBSITE
From October 16 to November 22, 2009. DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art presents DHC SESSION, a new compact autumn programming initiative including an exhibition, evening event series and in-gallery reading lounge and education project. It has an annually changing theme and features Canadian premieres of international artists.
The inaugural DHC SESSION exhibition, Living time, brings together selected documentation of renowned Taiwanese-American performance artist Tehching Hsieh’s One Year Performances and the films of young Dutch artist, Guido van der Werve. Both artists perform and document mundane activities such as walking, standing or following a schedule within constraints that question the human relationship with time and the nature of existence and survival.
Guido Van der Werve, Film still from Just because I'm standing here, doesn't mean I want to
You are cordially invited to join me at the vernissage of Offrandes at the Galerie du Viaduc, wednesday August 5th at 6:00 p.m. I look forward to sharing my latest work with you.
The exhibit will run from August 5th to the 15th inclusively. I hope that this message finds you well and that you are having a splendid summer so far..
Click here to view the work An exhibition on the interaction between the creative process and the environment. July 11 – September 5, 2009
The title of the exhibit refers to a situation that we often deal with when it comes to new technologies. Click here to view the work, is a nod to the battle against all this technological progress by offering objects and paintings, which, apart from the context of daily life, are transformed into sculptures that are sympathetic, disruptive, threatening and, ultimately, very creative.
Exhibition features the work of Maskull Lasserre, Eva Brandl, Natalia Rizo, Carole Baillargeon
On the main floor of the MMAQ is Centre MATERIA, an artist-run centre dedicated to hand-crafted art objects. (Yes, that’s right an artist-run centre dedicated to the dissemination of craft!) My visit co-incided with the exhibition Splaf, klong et frou frou featuring the work of recent graduates of the Maison des métiers d’art de Québec. Ranging from kinetic, mixed media sculpture to delicate miniature jacquard weavings the show demonstrates the diversity of production at MMAQ.
Marie-Michele B. Lemaire, Etude discrete sur murs (detail)
Florence Boivin, Papa ne t’inquiete pas, je vais reussir a faire quelque chose de ma vie le textile, mixed media
Marie-Eve Gagnon, Dodeliner, un bijou d’enfance
Marie-Eve Gagnon, Dodeliner, un bijou d’enfance (detail)
Centre MATERIA is currently seeking submissions for its 2010-2011 program. The deadline for applications is Monday October 5th. For more information click HERE
Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Maison des métiers d’art de Québec, a school of applied arts in Quebec City offering courses in ceramics, textile design and sculpture. I was given a tour of the school by it’s director, Carole Baillargeon.
Ceramics studio
The school offers a Techniques de métiers d’art professional training program, leading to a Diploma of College Studies in partnership with CEGEP Lemoilou.
Sculpture studio for stone carving
Students are encouraged to develop technical and artistic skill in an environment that fosters entrepreneurship and professional practice. The daylight-flooded studios are well equipped and open to graduates for a time after school to provide much needed support as they transition into a career as an artisan/creator.
Artist J. Penney Burton working in her studio during her June residency at MMAQ (Burton’s Piece Flax into Gold is currently exhibited in Lieux de Memoire, part of the Biennale international du lin)
The school also offers a residency program available to both young artists and established professionals from Canada and abroad. Residencies take place from September to June from 4 to 6 weeks in duration. Proposals may be submitted anytime.
Today was the vernissage for Lieux de memoire at the Moulin de La Chevrotiere in Deschambault. It was a beautiful day for the roughly two-hour drive from Montreal through the Quebec countryside. The mill was an ideal space, a true “place of memory” fitting with curator Denis Longchamp’s vision for the exhibit.
view of lower space with part of Monique Girard’s Le fil conducteur (foreground) with my, Recollect 1
Michele Lapointe’sEt si sa « Peau de mille bêtes » nous était conté
Detail of J. Penney Burton’s installation Flax into Gold
THANK YOU to curator Denis Longchamps, Biennale Director Karine Germain and the exhibiting artists Sarah Alford, J. Penney Burton, Monique Girard, Rosie Godbout, Veronika Horlik, Michele Lapointe, Dawn MacNutt, Vita Plume, Mireille Racine, Alain Taral and Liz Williamson for a beautiful, compelling and thoughtful exhibition!
Lieux de memoire opens to the public June 24 and will run until September 27, 2009. More images will be available soon HERE
Be sure to check out the website for information on the visual arts exhibition, fashion show and other events associated with the 2009 Biennale international du lin happening at various venues in the area throughout the summer.
Today Nancy and I had a chance to check out Imagine: The Peace Ballad of John & Yoko. Organized in collaboration with Ono, the exhibit includes original work by both John Lennon and Yoko Ono, projections of performances like Ono’s famous “Cut Piece” from 1965, and short films by Lennon. Of course the primary focus of the exhibition is John and Yoko’s 1969 Bed-in performance/happening in suite 1742 of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.
The fact that the show was packed with visitors made it difficult to contemplate much of the work for longer than a minute or two before you were compelled along by the flow of people. This was aggravating as I feel some of Ono’s quieter pieces like “Glass Keys to Open the Sky” were lost in the shuffle. The exhibition is organized fairly well, providing a context for the origins of the peace movement and the events leading up to John and Yoko’s “Bed-in”. Unfortunately, the audio seemed a bit chaotic as the soundtrack of several film pieces were almost inaudible, competing with additional audio tracks blaring from somewhere in the ceiling. For me the strongest use of multi-media was beyond the Bed-in room where video monitors on stands alternate between a selection of war and protest imagery. The rear wall of this room is covered in “War is Over: if you want it” posters flanked by a timelines of world events and protest imagery. At the culmination of the exhibition, visitors encounter a “Peace Library” and Ono’s contemporary “Wish Trees” project in which she continues to pursue a lifelong passion for peace and social activism.
Yoko Ono hangs a note on the Wish Tree at the opening of the Imagine exhibit Tuesday, March 31, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)
The Exhibition continues until June 21, 2009. For more, including a virtual tour of the exhibition and video of Yoko at the exhibition’s opening visit the museum’s website
Workshop assistant and centre graduate Dahlia Milon prepares a warp on one of the facility’s two Jacquard looms.
Today I had the opportunity to visit the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles with colleague Nancy Price. We were given a tour of this dynamic center of education and innovation by its director, artist and educator Louise Lemieux Berubé. Berubé and Régine Mainberger a fellow textile artist founded the centre in the early 1990`s. Acquiring its first Jacquard loom in 1996, the MCCT became one of the first North American educational institutions offering access to this technology, earning international attention.
Samples displayed in the Jacquard design classroom
The centre offers a three year college diploma program of textile design centered around Jacquard and multi-harness weaving and knitting for commercial production and personal expression. Remarkably, the studios remain available to graduates for a time after graduation to support the development of their professional work.
Samples displayed in the knitting studio
In addition to the diploma program, the centre also offers courses in Jacquard design to textile artists. The looms (and the hard-working technicians) at the centre are almost perpetually occupied weaving designs sent from artists around the globe.
Luckily our visit coincided with a display of work by graduating students that will be on display until July 2, 2009.
Mélanie Champagne’s machine-knitted, fulled wearables are at once elegant and surprising.
To see more images, or to learn more about The Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles, visit their website
Poplar Gallery.Online
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