Around forty sculptures, installations, canvases and works representative of the work of these artists are thus scattered throughout the museum until January 29.
Although the winners of the Governor General’s Awards are well known to experts and selected by their peers, they are rarely known to the general public, underlines Simon Brault, Director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts. Really, we honor people who have had long careers. They are also recognized both for their artistic work, but also for the impact they have had as artists.
he summarizes.
All this is a sort of crowning achievement of careers that have been fruitful
illustrates Mr. Brault.
Thus, he advises visitors to see the works, but to see the works as a window into much more important work that has been done on these artists
. This window
moreover, can be opened on the website of the Canada Council for the Arts, where videos talk about these creators.
Rebellious paintings by Toronto duo Carole Condé + Karl Beveridge at the imposing bronze of David Ruben Piqtoukun, there is everything. Here are three artists who caught our attention.
Brigitte Clavette, of Fredericton
Goldsmith, jeweler and sculptor, Brigitte Clavette mainly uses silver to give it organic and atypical forms, such as those of her own kitchen scraps and the legs of dead birds that she has dried and then molded to reproduce them.
The artist herself describes her work as being weird, unusual, not pretty
.
Wasted, one of his three works on display at the NGC, is a silver platter depicting various table scraps strewn with crows’ feet. The artist used 1861 grams of sterling silver to make it.
The work “Wasted—1,861 Grams Sterling”, by Brigitte Clavette (2017).
Photo : Radio-Canada / Catherine Morasse
It’s a bit absurd, when you think about it. I could have done the same work in bronze, which would have cost a fraction [du prix]
, she says. If she chose silver, it’s to achaler, it’s to annoy. Why take a material like that and transmute it into things like crow’s feet or a rotten lemon?
“Untitled”, by Brigitte Clavette (2020).
Photo : Radio-Canada / Catherine Morasse
Gerald McMasterde Chelsea
It is for his work as a curator that the artist, professor and author of origin Cree Gerald McMaster is a recipient of Outstanding Contribution Award. The current director of Wapatah Centre for Indigenous Visual Knowledge from the University of the Ontario College of Art and Design has 40 years of expertise in contemporary art, museology and Indigenous aesthetics.
Gerald McMaster is the first indigenous curator to have been active in the world of museums, summarizes Simon Braut. He is someone who is very important because he has articulated a vision of how to present indigenous art, often in conventional places […]but often also in institutions that were very marked by the exclusion of indigenous art, or by a rather colonialist vision
he explains.
Pierre Bourgault, Saint-Jean-Port-Joli
Pierre Bourgault is nicknamed the marine sculptor
, since the river inspired many of his works, many of which are public. Also a teacher, storyteller, researcher and navigator, he founded the Saint-Jean-Port-Joli woodcarving school in 1967.
The sculptor Pierre Bourgault.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Catherine Morasse
Au MBAit is possible to see the photos of a moving sculpture he created on the water in 1986.
I always gave my job and my ways [de faire] with pleasure, and I think it helped a lot
to allow him to make his way in the arts, he believes.