Home » News » All News » Creative Residency: New Brunswick and Quebec

Creative Residency: New Brunswick and Quebec

Creative Residency: New Brunswick and Quebec

Alec Wyllie, artsnb intern 2015

Brigitte Clavette is a New Brunswick silversmith, jewelry-maker and an instructor at the NB College of Craft and Design. She is also a recipient of the NB Excellence Award for Craft. Chantal Gilbert is a world-renowned knife-maker in Quebec who seeks to explore the ritual and spiritual aspects of the knife, which is something typically seen as a utilitarian object. These two artists come from very different backgrounds and live in different provinces, yet they have something in common: they both create ornate works of art from metal. This year they will be working together to create steel blades in Gilbert’s studio in Quebec, via the Creative Residency Program.

We offer a variety of annual exchange programs through the Creative Residency Program. This program aims to provide professional artists with the opportunity to develop their skills and to facilitate creation. artsnb collaborates with arts boards in Quebec
(CALQ), Manitoba (MAC), Atlantic Canada (NLAC, ArtsNS, PEICA) and Maine for residencies between provinces and states. Clavette’s residency is only one of several between New Brunswick and Quebec in 2015.

While Brigitte Clavette is doing her residence in Quebec, several artists from Quebec are also residing in NB in 2015. Visual artist Myriam Jacob-Allard recently came to Moncton from Quebec for the development of her project Moitié-moitié. Jacob-Allard’s work typically consists of multimedia visual exhibitions, touching on themes such as feminism and motherhood. She was in residence at Galerie Sans Nom from May 2^nd to June 1^st. Three more talented Quebec artists from several disciplines will be coming to New Brunswick for residencies this year:

• David Champagne, a photographer, will be working with the Maritime Fishermen’s Union between July 1^st and September 30^th for his project d’Ancre et de terre.  I find that much of Mr. Champagne’s work finds the beauty and humanity in the ordinary. He finds the untold stories in the bustling city streets and quiet rural towns. From a carnival ride operator in Beruit to a construction worker in Chicago, from New York City protesters to Quebec demolition derby drivers, Champagne captures a sort of universality in his photography; a shared sense of human experience.

 

• Cléo Palacio-Quintin, flutist, composer, teacher and inventor of the electronically-augmented Hyper-Flute, will be completing a research and creation residency in NB between June 22^nd and August 1^st, 2015. She will be hosted by the Struts Gallery and Quoi Festival in Sackville. Palacio-Quintin’s compositions range from acoustic to electric, experimental to improvisational. When I first heard one of her pieces, I was surprised and impressed by what she could do with her instrument. Her music’s vastness of tone and texture is beyond what the average listener might expect from a flute, and this is largely aided by her use of the Hyper-Flute, which converts the sound from a conventionally-played flute into digital MIDI data, allowing her to use electronic processing and effects.

 

• Pierre-Paul Savoie, dancer, choreographer and founder of PPS Dance, will be in residence for his latest project L’école buissoniêre. The production will be a celebration of childhood, imagination and days on the playground. Savoie will be in Moncton from June to September for his residence, with the DansEncore group and the Aberdeen Cultural Centre. Savoie’s company, PPS Dance, is celebrating its 25^th year in 2015. This October the company will also be debuting the remake of their legendary production BAGNE from 1992. Savoie is taking on the challenge of updating one of the most acclaimed productions in the history of Quebec choreography to modern-day audiences while also being respectful to the original.