2010 EDITION

Brochure

Kim VERGILwww.kimcreations.net

Trees that dream of chairsTake your place in the conversation.
Trees, natural structures, human survival, renewable resources, only one atom out of every 137 distinguishes blood from chlorophyll.

Dream, a process (of healing) OR problem-solving while we sleep. Whether we remember it or not, we dream all night long.

Chairs, structures that support, processed trees, characters, (when assembled) invitations to conversations.

Conversations, sharing opinions, ideas and perspectives through dialogue.
Finding your place within Nature. 

Sally Lee SHEEKS

Abundance of AbandonA warm wind travels through the large orchard and stirs the leaves and branches heavy with fruit. The air dances around the apples which fall with a soft plop on the grass, which bends under their weight. Everything is quiet, but everything is in motion, from the fruit that grows to the one that's rotting, from the time which moves forward to the memories that are lost, from the climbing child to the burrowing worm.

Abundance of abandon is an ode to the bounty of the harvest season and an interpretation of the natural movement of this ancient orchard, with a new wind of energy. A collaboration in dance and sculpture for two artists who base their practice on the rhythms of nature, this work is an exploration of the territory where the two forms of expression meet: the shape expressing the movement and the movement integrating the shape.

A continuous line, woven from branches and found strings, crosses the space between the apple trees and under their branches, following the curves of the trees and the land. The line expands and tapers, touches the ground and the crowns. Included are dancers, flowing with the line or against it, the steps and gaze attentive to the contrasts, celebrating the orchard in every corner and in all its stories. 

Catherine BAAS

DesireA work in the field, in an orchard in the middle of the apple trees, is a beautiful invitation to listen to nature.

This in situ work could refer to creation in every sense of the term while also referring to "Créations-sur-le-Champ".

I imagine a metaphor for love, the intense desire that pushes us beyond our limits, as an extension of self: two apple trees attract, meet, mingle. This pair of trees has all its senses in turmoil, their visible external parts, become turgid, a vital power dwells within. Desire exalts them. Their branches and roots are one.

Roxane CHAMBERLAND et Marie-Jo CÔTÉ

Splendor of VoidA body suspended in time, balanced between life and death.
In ascension or dizzying fall...

Proud and upright, straightforward and shameless, he throws himself feet first into the void shivering with fear in his core.

Before the loneliness of winter, it proclaims its final blaze flushed with passionate ardor.

Today, it lies offered, betraying its most intimate secrets.
Remains and memories projected on the horizon, the history of what it once was.

Bruno TASSÉ

Geometric rhizomeMechano-bio, organic tinker-toy, the delicious structure lends itself admirably well thanks to the universal apple joint mechanic, the expression of the divine geometry. Here is one of the five Platonic solids, the tetrahedral pyramid. Four sides, four vertices, six edges and twelve angles in all to keep us grounded in reality. The polyhedron with a triangular base is a representation of the primordial volume well before the Pharaonic truncated octahedron.

Materials: apples, apple tree suckers.
Orientation: heliacal rising of Sirius. 

Alan GREENBERG

The Red Pine Line During one of my regular walks in the woods of Pennsylvania I eagerly look forward to seeing a particular tree that fell there several years ago.

I am constantly impressed by the parallel relationship of the fallen tree and how it contrasts with the surrounding forest.

Evidenced by this slowly decomposing tree, which evokes an awareness of the passage of time. This fallen tree was originally standing straight and true. When I visited this beautiful orchard in Mont-Saint-Hilaire this summer, I was struck by the orderly and strong vertical nature of the red pines in the forest. I was acutely aware of the role of the dirt road in the separation of the pine forest from the deciduous forest on the opposite side of the road.

In The Red Pine Line, I created a line of tree trunks that crosses the road in order to establish a visual connection between the two forests. This parallel connection contrasts with the strong verticality of the evergreen pines and attracts the eye of the visitor to the suspended form, creating a new experience of the fallen tree.

Marc DULUDEwww.marcdulude.com

At the Heart of StarsThe apple is a symbol that takes many forms. The symbolism of this fruit comes from what it contains in its core, formed by the receptacles that hold the seeds just like a five-pointed star. The pentagram, symbol of human spirit, was illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci depicting a man at the center of a star in which his limbs are the points.

The installation At the heart of stars is created from apples attached to tree branches. Each of these apples has its heart painted, thus revealing the star that it houses. Placed discreetly in the forest, the cluster of apples gives the impression of a constellation nestled among the branches. For a moment, the hiker can find himself in the heart of a place where contemplation and magic coexist.

This artist wishes to acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the contribution to this project by artist Martial Despré.

Daniel AUCLAIR

ArBleu The piece is composed primarily of three elements. Firstly the pond, which is naturally covered with pale green water lenses; secondly, found blown-glass red spheres; finally old apple trees from the Pavillon de la Pomme assembled and painted "Blue Key" blue. This blue is the one used in movies to remove or replace a physical element with another computer-generated one.

This work was created with the idea of modifying any photo or video recordings. For Daniel Auclair, this contribution symbolizes our management of natural resources.

Alastair HESELTINE

Turn around It's been thirty years since I have completed my studies in basket-making in Haute Marne, France, and I am honoured to be invited to reconnect with my original trade. From this perspective, it is already a form of returning, a return not only as a craftsman, but also as an artist. This craft is a marriage between technique and material. Since the basket rotates on command, now in art it's up to me to adapt to the environment, the conditions and materials available at Mont-Saint-Hilaire. Could I turn these branches around each other in the way that my imagination suggests? Or, is the image of what I want to do that exists in my head, what must be turned around? We won't know until the process is in progress... there are always surprises! So I hope this creation will inspire you and reflect a different point of view.

Emmanuelle VIEIRA

Dotted landscape At the crossroads of two paths at the edge of a forest, there stands a large orchard with expressive trees, with living trunks and inhabited branches. In the distance, Mont Saint-Hilaire imposes itself, majestic and languid, 130 million years strong. Mountain and apple trees watch and protect each other.

A third dotted landscape melts into this setting, as a strange composition of red notes. From afar, the dots form lines that run in specific directions and frame the landscape. Up close, they look more like large expressive bands that dress the tree to bring out the shapes, geometry and countless secrets.

Colour reunites: it weaves a link between man and nature. On this extraordinary site where the spectacle of nature performs, each red note is a rhythm, a step towards elsewhere, the promise of a trip in an imaginary world.

The dots modulate the space and create a culture, a place to live in that combines successive punches to the existing landscape. The work feeds on the site, it submits to its scale and its longitudinal logic. It focuses on the breadth, the alignment of the trees, the tortured form of branches and the smooth curves of the mountain behind.

At the first snow when the ground and area take on a new dimension, the red reveals the truth of souls and the mystery of life.

Special Collaboration

Musée des beaux-arts de Mont-Saint-Hilaire

Voir et vivre l'art – 15th anniversaryThis installation aims to highlight the 15 years of operations of the Musée des beaux-arts de Mont-Saint-Hilaire.

The symbolism of the fifteen stations refers to the evolution, progress and achievements of the institution since its inception in 1995. The arrangement of "frames" and "bases" is a kind of nod to the laws of perspective and leads the eye towards the future. Each station represents a three-dimensional "work" where the number of elements corresponds to its position in the succession (1 to 15).

Among these, one notes that three of the fifteen stations are of particular significance related to the museum's mission. At the first station, one finds a spiral pattern, symbol of the constant movement of life and infinity, often present in the work of Jordi Bonet; the third station refers to the famous painting by Ozias Leduc  Les Trois Pommes (1887) and the fifteenth recalls the fifteen signatories of the Total Refusal manifesto written by Paul-Émile Borduas in 1948 in his house at 621, Chemin des Patriotes Nord, Mont-Saint-Hilaire.

www.mbamsh.qc.ca