For most people in the region, last Thursday was just another rainy, gray evening. For a little more than twenty young art-study students from Cité-des-Jeunes, it was a happy, sunny premiere: with the launch of their official exhibition at Vaudreuil-Soulanges' most renowned museum. Néomédia attended the opening of Mettre les mains à la pâte at the Musée régional de Vaudreuil-Soulanges. The exhibition runs until May 15.

The exhibition is playful and free, inspired and inspiring. Annick Gauvreau, a multidisciplinary artist from Coteau-du-Lac, and art teacher Nancy Lépine, supervised the work. For Annick Gauvreau, the goal was first to offer a creative workshop and training on the Refus global period and automatist painters in Quebec. 

This was followed by a spontaneous painting practice with Annick and Nancy. A lovely idea was embraced to allow each work to be inserted into a pretty basket, called a banneton, in memory of a local baker (see attached article).

The titles of each work were superbly crafted, reflecting the overflowing imagination of our youngsters.

The teacher explains how she went about creating a climate conducive to automatic painting: "I asked the students not to try to control, but to live in the moment, without thinking too much. In fact, I invited them to do a practice first, to make them more comfortable and reduce stress," she explains.

Nancy and Annick agree: "You don't have to excel in figurative art to succeed in abstract work; it takes spontaneity and letting go, according to Annick; you have to stop thinking, so to speak", she adds.

The students first cut out mini invitation cards from their first attempts on large cardboard, which they sent to various potential visitors for their vernissage. The invitations were a great success.

Exhibition curator Chantal Séguin, explains a few rules of art when organizing an exhibition: "First of all, when I'm approached, I have to direct, think about standardization, hanging, and ask myself the question: 'is this realistic?"

"Then you have to think about various aspects: the room layout, titles, files to be sent and printed, lamination, etc. Caroline Duguay and Émilie Léger are in charge of hanging.

"Finally, it takes a professional artist behind a project; I have a caliber of quality to respect", concludes the curator.

The public can rest assured: all the ingredients have been integrated to make a perfect paste for this very interesting exhibition, which you can admire at the Musée régional until May 15 in the Salle polyvalente. Please call ahead to see the exhibition, as the multi-purpose hall is sometimes reserved for other activities.

Here's the list of all participants and the titles of their respective works:

Thomas Bédard, Défaillance
Morane Boily, Rivage de la plage
Rafaëlle Boisvert, Nouvel astre
Aïda Calenga, Étirement de lumières
Diego Del Valle Cahos contrôlé
Maxim Emond, La danse des ombres
Lola Fernandes, La fleur
Maja Gonzalez Kusmic, Japonais
Eva-Maria Gurtova, Le jeûne
Alexina Hébert-Fréchette, Le fil s’enfile
Ariane Liboiron, L’averse
Antoine Mailloux, Signal
Maria Marseille King, Ça va bien aller!
Yulianna Morin, Réflexion
Dominique Nartatez, L’étrange jungle
Adelean Nyaguze, Ancienne musique d’automne
Maria Isabella Peinado Behrens, Vie!
Matteo Pietraroia Petits dauphins
Heidi Robichaud, Pluie dorée
Alexa Robillard, L’art des bulles
Milo Robillard Kasuto, Éclat de chaleur
Noémie Roy, Palette colorée
Sarah Vicente-Handabaka, Cœur de vin
Nancy Lépine, Pain d’exclamation!
Annick Gauvreau, Pain perdu

Also read:

Vernissage April 11: Annick Gauvreau exhibits with Cité-des-Jeunes art students