Art Gallery

Bonheur d’Uplands

From November 5 to December 17, 2023

Vernissage: November 5, 2 to 4 PM

About the Exhibit:

The “Bonheur d’Uplands” art exhibit marks the start of the festive season at Uplands. Discover and acquire artworks by: Sylvia Audet, Claire Bureau, Lucy Doheny, Debbie Everett, Caroline George, Nicole Labbé, Brenda Smith, Marilyn Hobbs Turner, Donald Mercier, and Laurier Mercier.

 Artists’ Statements:

 Sylvia Audet – Acrylic

Sylvia was born in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. She lived her childhood surrounded by landscapes of water and mountains. Thus, from an early age, this passion for art was expressed through a vast artistic production that was based on studies at the School of Beaux-Arts in Montréal (UQAM). She has also practised various techniques while devoting her career to teaching at all levels. After having taught pedagogy at the Faculty of Visual Arts of Laval University, Sylvia now devotes herself full-time to the expression of her art through painting.

Her figurative painting, although realistic, leaves room for imagination. Her paintings testify to an environment since nature, by its fauna and its flora, has always been at the heart of her interests.
“Indeed, I am influenced by the natural environment in which the water and its vapours, whether mist, ice, snow or clouds, bathed my paintings.”

Claire Bureau – Watercolour

For the last 20 years, I have been on a journey of discovery.  The many side trips along the way have allowed me to explore a wide variety of mediums Watercolour, remains my principal medium.

One of the things I discovered on this journey was “Artist Trading Cards” (ATCs), and their cousins “Art Cards Editions and Originals” (ACEOs), which are miniature originals, done, in my case, in watercolour or pen and wash.

I have recently turned to abstract expressionism. After having envisioned several arrangements of shapes and making a few small sketches to find the composition I want, I use a pencil to draw the shapes on watercolour paper. I then choose my colours and work in layers, using a wide variety of watercolour techniques, and ending with strong calligraphic marks. The resulting paintings are unique and joyous.

Lucy Doheny – Pottery

I began my life with clay in 1977 as a student at Champlain College Lennoxville under the tutelage of Dean Mullavey.

To work with clay is a wonderful thing. Imagine; the material is as old as the earth. Dinosaurs once walked upon the rocks that, through erosion have become clay. There is a connection to the earth and its beginnings. Using the forces of nature: water and fire, clay is transformed into a vessel.

The act of making pots hasn’t changed much in thousands of years: center a piece of clay on a spinning wheel, pull the clay up, cut it off, let it dry, fire it for hours with very high heat, put a form of powdered glass on it, fire it again and voila, a finished pot.

Caution, this sequence can be addictive.

Debbie Everett – Wood Carving

Debbie’s carvings depict life with wonderful scenes of friends and family enjoying leisure activities. A sense of family and community runs through her work. Her works are brightly painted and carved out of a single piece of bass wood. Debbie enjoys wildlife scenes as well.

Caroline George – Papier Mâché Works

Caroline George is an artist and an amateur naturalist, living in Hatley. Her papier-maché birds are made from recycled materials and water-based paints. The birds are stylized sufficiently to be decorative, and accurate enough for species identification. This unique blending of art and science is used to create charming ornaments.

Nicole Labbé – Crafts & Christmas Ornaments

Nicole Labbé skillfully transforms recycled materials into unique pieces, showcasing a variety of original and planet-friendly creations. Among her works, you can find tote bags made from recycled fabrics, nostalgic Christmas decorations crafted from vintage elements, and cookie cutters. Her mittens and slippers combine comfort and originality!

Brenda Smith – Handwoven Items

Brenda began her weaving explorations on 4- and 8-shaft looms within a weaver’s club in Dorval. She further developed her craft on the rigid-heddle loom in the Eastern Townships. Despite her recent move to Montreal, she maintains strong connections with our region. Currently, her one-of-a-kind wraps, scarves, and other unique handwoven items, are proudly displayed in the Uplands Dining Room.

Marilyn Hobbs Turner – Watercolour

I am a local artist living in Sherbrooke in the lovely Eastern Townships.  I consider myself a self-taught artist.  However, I have availed myself of art courses in drawing, acrylics and watercolour over a period of many years.  I am also a mosaic artist,  and have sold my works in both the United States and Canada.  Over the last few years, I have mainly devoted my time and effort in developing my watercolour skills, as well as line and wash.  Influential artists for me are Winslow Homer and Albrecht Dürer.  My current interest is in painting structures from our past — Québec’s beautiful covered bridges.  As I grow more confident, I hope to be able to exhibit my art in more venues such as Uplands.

Donald Mercier – Oil on Canvas

I’m first called by light. From morning to evening, it is the underlying reason for my oil-painted canvases. From one season to the next, it is present and emphasized in the canvas, sometimes even before the subject itself. So always, shadow and light justify the execution of the work.

Through the villages, cities, roads, alleys, fields, and mountains I have seen and admired, I aim to capture, through painting, the beauty of our world and all the different lights it offers us.

So, for my pleasure, at my own pace, improving from one canvas to another, and always with the landscape as my favourite subject, I recreate on the canvas the impression it has evoked in me.

Without pretension but with certainty, I only paint the world of life. In this regard, surely, all artists can say the same. We only paint, sing, and write about the world we walk on, breathe in, and traverse.

Laurier Mercier – Watercolour

I don’t have a specific artistic approach. I do what pleases me, day by day. It’s all the better if it succeeds. And if, after years, I look at what I’ve done and still find it just as good, well, my goal is achieved. I don’t ask for more.

For me, art is a language, and it’s meant to express something and, therefore, should also have meaning for others. Art is a language; I can’t express it better for now.

« Everything is language » Françoise Dolto, psychoanalyst.