The rustling leaves, gentle rain, cozy sweaters, and old afternoon movies under a blanket; autumn has that touch of nostalgia. Art evokes emotions, and autumn is the perfect season for melancholy. If autumn has that effect on you too, here’s a visual art circuit that’s sure to make you feel something. Across five areas of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, a journey of installations, drawings, photographs, sculptures, paintings, and more awaits. Let yourself be carried by the emotions these visits inspire.
Machinations, by Violette Dionne
Centre d’art de La Sarre
September 12 to November 17, 2024
With humor, Violette Dionne explores the relationship between the human body and machinery. She creates works that question industrial obsolescence and celebrate human effort.
This exhibition at Centre d’art de La Sarre immerses you in a world where machines take the place of humans. Violette Dionne is a sculptor and ceramicist.
In her latest artistic explorations, Dionne draws inspiration from industrial design, blending retro-futuristic and surreal aesthetics in her recent creations.
Artwork by Violette Dionne - Photo : Courtesy of the Centre d'art de La Sarre
Compositions impromptues ; le textile en 4 mouvements, by Rythâ Kesselring
Centre d’exposition d’Amos
September 13 to November 17, 2024
Rythâ Kesselring’s interdisciplinary practice explores how textiles, like living archives, can tell stories, just as sound can. Her interactive works question the ecological urgency of natural and digital ecosystems and the materialization of the Anthropocene ("the age of humanity"). She primarily uses textiles, incorporating them into sculptures, installations, and performances.
Artwork by Rythä Kesselring
Photo : Courtesy of the Centre d'axposition d'Amos
Artwork byRythä Kesselring
Photo : Courtesy of the Centre d'exposition d'Amos
Territoire féminin, by Nathalie Faucher
Centre d’exposition d’Amos
September 13 to November 10, 2024
Photo : Courtesy of the Centre d'exposition d'Amos
Historian Nathalie Faucher presents her first solo exhibition in Amos. Known for her paper creations, she reveals works featuring shadows, lights, contrasts, and repeating patterns. With a fascination for detail, her pieces invite viewers to look closely to appreciate their intricacies.
She is a trained historian, particularly interested in how women have been erased from the historical narrative.
"We are fascinated by the delicacy of her painting, combined with the intimate relationship with the works, as you have to look closely to see all the details and compositions within"
General Co-director and Artistic Director of Visual Arts at Centre d’exposition du Rift
L’éclaircie, by Gaëtane Godbout
Le Centre d’exposition du Rift
September 20 to November 9, 2024
"We are fascinated by the delicacy of her painting, combined with the intimate relationship with the works, as you have to look closely to see all the details and compositions within," says Émilie B. Côté, General Co-director and Artistic Director of Visual Arts at Le Rift Exhibition Center, describing the work of Gaëtane Godbout, an artist from Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
Gaëtane Godbout, an artist from Abitibi-Témiscamingue, presents a new series of paintings at Le Rift. Using delicate networks of dots and lines over large fields of solid color, she creates poetic images illuminated with subtle touches of light. This exhibition offers about twenty paintings designed to bring comfort and softness.
Water - Eau, by Ed Pien
Musée d’art de Rouyn-Noranda
November 2, 2024, to January 12, 2025
Ed Pien is a highly acclaimed artist, recognized around the world. He will be present at the opening event, which is scheduled for the afternoon so that he can meet families from Rouyn-Noranda. Pien spent July in residence, during which he explored parts of Abitibi-Témiscamingue. According to Jean-Jacques Lachappelle, the Museum of Art's Executive Director and Chief Curator, "The artist was deeply inspired by the abundance of water here. He even met with the Territoire collective in Rouyn and created a large work using water from Lake Osisko."
Pien has been studying water since 1984, incorporating it into subtle, ethical, and aesthetic proposals. The retrospective exhibition Water – Eau showcases a collection of works created over the past 25 years.
Entre les lignes/Between the lines, by Michel T. Desroches
Centre d’exposition de Val-d’Or
June 21 to October 27, 2024
Photo : Courtesy of the Centre d'exposition de Val-d'Or
Carmelle Adam, Director of the Val-d’Or Exhibition Center, shares, "For over 25 years, the Val-d’Or Exhibition Center has offered life drawing classes. The foundation of Michel T. Desroches’ work is a series of drawings based on live models, but for this collection, he used models from the third and fourth age groups."
In this way, Michel T. Desroches brings a fresh perspective to the representation of older individuals. Melancholic, haunting, and captivating, his portraits evoke an ambiguous feeling. Ms. Adam adds, "Often, live models chosen are much younger. Also, in art history, the human body is typically represented in youth. We found this approach intriguing." Six of the artist's outdoor panels are displayed along the bike path on Jean-Jacques Cossette Boulevard in the industrial area and in front of the Marcel-Monette Cultural Complex at 600, 7th Street in Val-d’Or.
"For her (Caroline Hayeur), it’s like an ethnographic approach. It says a lot about society, about how we sleep. There’s a kind of surrender in the way we sleep, and it’s very beautiful to see people like that."
Carmelle Adam, director of the Centre d'exposition de Val-d'Or
Radioscopie du dormeur, by Caroline Hayeur
Centre d’exposition de Val-d’Or
October 4 to November 24, 2024
The photographer Caroline Hayeur presents the exhibition "Radioscopy of the Sleeper." During the summer of 2024, the artist visited Abitibi-Témiscamingue to photograph three people as they slept. Carmelle Adam, director of VOART, explains: “For her (Caroline Hayeur), it’s like an ethnographic approach. It says a lot about society, about how we sleep. There’s a kind of surrender in the way we sleep, and it’s very beautiful to see people like that.”
Vieille école, by Lieven Meyer
à l’Écart… Lieu d’art actuel
From August 28 to October 6, 2024
Lieven Meyer establishes a link between a crumbling place and gives it a voice. Through his process, the artist digs into the geo- and sociopolitical history of Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Meyer thus retraces the history of a ruined frame, once a schoolhouse. He then takes part in its demolition to salvage materials, which he uses to create a contemporary sculpture mimicking the structure of a skateboard ramp.
Cibles/Targets, by Virginia Pesemapeo
à l’Écart… Lieu d’art actuel
From August 28 to October 6, 2024
Virginia Pesemapeo, born in James Bay, presents a powerful and political work inspired by sisterhood in this collaborative piece. She invites Indigenous women to embroider their wounds, aiming to transcend them. With this unsettling installation, Pesemapeo seeks to restore dignity to the missing and murdered. This project continues a struggle she began with Poésie en marche pour Sindy.
Whether alone, with your niece, your grandfather, or Aunt Huguette, I invite you to explore a new artistic universe. The discovery of works often triggers meaningful exchanges with oneself or the person accompanying you. And in terms of themes, mediums, and galleries, Abitibi-Témiscamingue has plenty to offer this autumn!
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