Art exhibit tours French schools

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This article was published 08/10/2022 (990 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Francophone schools across the province including those in La Broquerie and St Jean welcomed “Musee ambulant”, a small nomadic museum featuring an exhibition called Confluences, last month.

The tour featured prints of five professional and non-professional Inuit artists from Nunavik, textile creations from Quebec artist Catherine Lessard, a ceramic installation by Ludovic Boney and sculptures and textiles by Fanny Mesnard.

The display began its life in Quebec, coming to Manitoba to tour schools in Winnipeg, La Broquerie, St Jean, St Lazare and Thompson. It will end its tour in November in the Lanaudiere region in Quebec.

Musee ambulant general co-director Sarah Belanger-Martel said the exhibition embodies their organization’s mission, to open up access to and break down barriers that limit arts accessibility.

“Distance is one of them,” she said. “In the regions we visit, there are very few contemporary art centers or galleries and the cultural offer in French is limited.”

Belanger-Martel said this tour, organized with the help of the Franco-Manitoban School, brings the students in direct contact with a variety of pieces from living Canadians artists who are experts in their field.

“We chose pieces that reflect different outlooks: Inuit artists’ prints that present different cultural traditions and legends, textile pieces that reinterpret the tradition of arrowhead sashing (a strong connection between Quebec and Metis heritage for instance), art that evokes our natural worlds (birch tree catkins in Ludovic’s work or animals that live around our rivers and lakes),” she said. “With this proposition we want children to use their creativity and imagination both to see the works and to create their own artworks.”

The second part of each workshop allowed students to do just that, as they came up with their own creations.

Belanger-Martel said they’re not trying to relay information, but to spark engagement and develop imagination.

“In a world where we see so many images at such a rapid pace, getting the opportunity to slow down, to look closely and for a long time, let ourselves get touched, surprised by art, is an essential experience that brings us back to the joy of feeling and sharing,” she said.

As part of this tour, the Musee Ambulant will also be visiting the Winnipeg Art Gallery on Sunday to offer family activities as part of Free Family Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.