Montreal, December 11, 2018 – On December 6, the Conseil des métiers d’art du Québec presented the 2018 Jean-Marie-Gauvreau Award to artist Michèle Lapointe for her exceptional work entitled Mettre la tête où l’on pense. Composed of 13 blown and deflated glass elements displayed alongside large-scale photographs, the installation is a visual interpretation of the novel Carapace by Québécois author Mario Girard, published under the pen name of Marie Auger.
Because of its ambiguous nature, glass – simultaneously fragile and solid – allows Michèle Lapointe to achieve anamorphic optical effects, giving movement to texts, images and objects placed underneath it. It can make images disappear and reappear, shifting according to the viewer’s point of view, thus allowing the evocation of distress and abandonment issues linked to child abuse.
Michèle Lapointe lives and works in Montréal. The recurring themes in her works and installations are the passage of time, the remembrance of places and the fragility of the environment. Her works are found in many public collections, such as those of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the City of Montréal, and the MusVerre of Sars-Poteries, France. As a member of the teaching faculty at Espace VERRE, she shares her expertise on art and architecture integration with second-year students, and guides the third-year graduating students in the completion of their end-of-study personal projects.
About the Jean-Marie-Gauvreau Award
Created in 1976 in honour of the founder of the Salon des métiers d’art du Québec, the Jean-Marie-Gauvreau Award is one of the most important distinctions offered to the fine craft community of Québec. Presented by the Conseil des métiers d’art du Québec to a professional craftsperson with more than 10 years of practice, the award includes a $10,000 bursary. It is attributed to a work or collection created within a five-year timeframe that stands out by its singularity, uniqueness, and audacity, all the while being coherent with the maker’s body of work, and having an impact on the evolution of craftsmanship.
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Photo: René Rioux
Source:
Valérie Paquin, Communications Manager
communication@espaceverre.qc.ca
514 933-6849