Artist: Elisabeth Picard, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Interview 33
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Interviews published by Gareth Bate & Dawne Rudman.
Biography
Elisabeth Picard is a Canadian emerging artist. Born in 1981, she lives and works in her birth city of Montreal, Quebec. She did her undergraduate degree in Visual Arts at the Université du Québec in Montreal. Since 2006, among other exhibitions she showed her work at the Galerie du Parc in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, the Arts Sutton Gallery in Sutton, the Maison de la culture Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Montreal, the Art Mûr gallery in Montreal, the Stewart Hall Gallery in Point-Claire, Quebec, the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, Ontario and the House of Culture in Holguin, Cuba.
She finished her masters in Fine Arts, fibre concentration at Concordia University in 2011. To pursue her graduate studies, she received awards from Canada, Quebec and Concordia University; among others the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture (FQRSC).
This year Picard had two new solo shows in Montreal artist run centers; Terminaisons Chromatiques at Circa and her thesis show Structures modulaires : Flot et Constructions at Diagonale. This summer, she had her first residency in Est-Nord-Est, Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec. In September 2011, she will be part of the collective, show in Europe, Experiments with Light: Art Lab, an international satellite project of Kaunas Biennial TEXTILE'11 in Lithuania. Elisabeth's Website
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Artist Elisabeth Picard |
Tell us about your work?
As movement transforms matter in the universe, my work is oriented to the exploration of natural phenomena and their impact on the physical environment. The relationship between growth and transformation and the complexity of the structures they engender, guide my practice.
As I work on many pieces at the same time, I go back and forth between making sculptures, installations, wall works and drawings. I work either in small or big scale. I feel that this organic process of making things, allows me to do research, to challenge myself and to renew my work constantly.
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Flot, 2011, Zip-Ties, glass, painted steel and neon, 28.25 x 76.5 x 38.5 inches, Michel Dubreuil photo credit |
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Detail: Flot, 2011, Zip-Ties, glass, painted steel and neon, Michel Dubreuil photo credit |
From where do you get your inspiration?
I get my inspiration through nature, architecture and design. Following the phenomena of the universe, I induce movement in materials in order to create natural architectonics. With the use of craft techniques, I study industrial materials such as wood, corrugated cardboard, wax and plastics, in order to create a contrast between their raw appearance and some new natural state. To achieve this, I focus on their specific properties (colour, structure and plasticity) through manipulations; layering for growth and accretion, cutting for fractures, torsion for movement and deformation, and lighting for translucency. My interest in raw materials lays in their physical and mechanical properties, in order to elevate them to a refined state that demonstrates their architectural potential.
The richness of shapes, textures and colours guides my manipulations. As I am attracted by visual complexity, I tend to use material to create density and perspective.
My aim is to conceive objects that are a fusion of art, design and architecture as I put in relationship the notion of refined, versus non-refined, by the hybridization of various materials and senses. My practice, in opposition to mass production that generally results in the creation of serial objects, is to laboriously fabricate unique, precious and fragile pieces. I want to explore a meditative approach to material in relationship to the universe, the landscape, its movements and the organisms that develop in it.
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Constructions, 2011, Zip-Ties, glass, painted steel and neon, 48.25 x 147 x 9.5 inches, Michel Dubreuil photo credit |
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Constructions, 2011, Zip-Ties, glass, painted steel and neon, Right segment, Michel Dubreuil photo credit |
Why did you choose to go into fibre art?
As a teenager, I experimented with painting and object fabrication. I developed my eye and hand skills with craft techniques like friendship bracelets; loom beading and latch hook technique.
In fine art, at College Edouard-Montpetit in Longueuil Quebec and during undergraduate studies at Université du Québec in Montreal, I followed the ''academic'' program. Sculpture was a way to experiment with wood, metal, resin, fiberglass, paper and encaustic. In parallel, I continued a wall work practice, whereby I worked on frame deconstruction, layering of materials and translucency. The facilities allowed me to develop and refine methods of working. I learned how custom made pieces, finishing and presentation are inherent to the creation of high quality work.
Afterwards, I realized my work was standing out, as my strength and creativity relied on hand making and material transformation. While doing the MFA fibre program at Concordia University, I figured out how I related to the hand making process and to the sensitivity of the fibre field.
My relationship with fibre is based on manipulations and in the way I treat industrial materials and organic shapes. I prefer mechanical assembling (assembling pieces together without glue, by a physical relationship like imbrication or mortise) and ''soft'' materials like cardboard and many kinds of plastics. I reproduce instinctively some fibre constructions and techniques, but in a sculptural scale.
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Constructions: Detail of one element of the right segment, , 2011, Zip-Ties and glass, 4 x 8 x 2 inches, Elisabeth Picard photo credit |
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Constructions, 2011, Zip-Ties and glass, 4 x 8 x 2 inches, Detail of one element of the right segment, Elisabeth Picard photo credit |
Which is your favourite fibre medium?
As I have a kinesthesia approach to materials, my manipulations lead my work through basketry techniques. I favour mechanical assemble for the creation of sculptural objects and wall works. I have worked with slices of paper and single face cardboard. Their flexibility allows me to create organic shapes and because the material is paper, I could harden it with encaustic or resin. Recently, I experimented with zip-ties. This plastic element with its 'clicket' makes me develop new shapes inherent to its mechanism and I can emphasize this aspect with light. The plastic then becomes luminescent like some phytoplankton.
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Extensions topographiques, 2009, Russian plywood and single face cardboard, 48 x 57 x 53 inches, Elisabeth Picard photo credit |
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Detail: Extensions topographiques, 2009, Russian plywood and single face cardboard, Elisabeth Picard photo credit |
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Extensions topographiques, 2009, Russian plywood and single face cardboard, 48 x 57 x 53 inches, Back view Elisabeth Picard photo credit |
What other mediums do you work in, and how does this inform your fibre work?
I worked a lot with Russian plywood. Following lines of the grain on the surface, I created cut outs to place like a puzzle, where positive and negative shapes interact. I also use the cut outs on thinner plywood to create a flexible surface like some kind of gigantic lace.
I have recently introduced drawing into my practice. Using pencil or coloured pencils, I set out to ‟reproduce" the profile of cut cardboard bands. These resultant drawings are an accumulation of flexible lines that twist and multiply. Organic patterns are created as some microscopic corps or as an infinite topography. These images make a new parallel between my subject matter and the sculptures.
During my residency in Est-Nord-Est in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec, I started to go for walks on the shore. I took photographs of anything I found interesting. I started to collect personal images of nature formations like moss, alga, lichen, or deformations within drift rock and wood and cracks in the mud. I do not know yet what I will do with these, but they relate in a formal way to my work.
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Terminaisons chromatiques, 2010, Single face cardboard, acrylic paint and plywood, 49 x 44 x 40 inches, Guy L'Heureux photo credit |
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Terminaisons chromatiques, 2010, Single face cardboard, acrylic paint and plywood, 49 x 44 x 40 inches, Detail, Guy L'Heureux photo credit |
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Terminaisons chromatiques, 2010, Single face cardboard, acrylic paint and plywood, 49 x 44 x 40 inches, Detail, Guy L'Heureux photo credit |
What specific historic artists have influenced your work?
The drawings of Emma Kunz (Swiss) are very inspiring for me. Their psychedelic and pulsing appearance translates the powers of nature. In parallel to her work, I did experiment with the mandala and the Spiro graph. I was looking at mathematic patterning, repetition and progression as triggers for contemplation.
Eva Hesse (German, moved to America) is one of my favourite sculptors. As part of the post minimalism, she created a new way of making sculptures and wall works with the use of soft materials and resin. She emphasizes organic shapes and the idea of variations within series. I feel that my work relates to her, in the way I studied resin within a certain purity and formal approach. Moreover, like her, I develop many different types of wall works as singular sculptural objects.
Karl Blossfeldt (German) did nearly 6000 photographs of nature specimens. When I look at my favourite ones, I see them as miniatures of architectures or sculptures. They make us appreciate nature shapes in different stages of formation and deformation. His photographs incite me to observe nature in different scales, as a macrocosm can be a microcosm and vice-versa.
Giuseppe Penone (Italian) is the youngest artist of the Arte-Povera art. His use of wood and marble is amazing. He works with the trace of life imbedded in the growth of wood. He follows the grain of marble and sculpts its surface as human skin.
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Pèlerinage, 2006-2005, Enroled paper, 4 x 108 x 108 inches, Elisabeth Picard photo credit |
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Pèlerinage, 2006-2005, Enroled paper, Detail, Elisabeth Picard photo credit |
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Pèlerinage, 2006-2005, Enroled paper, Detail, Elisabeth Picard photo credit |
What specific contemporary artists have influenced your work?
Frank Gehry (Canadian architect based in Los Angeles), interests me a lot with his creations of a plywood house, Easy Edges cardboard furniture, the New Bentwood chairs plated furniture and his amazing organic architecture of the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao in Spain.
Herzog & de Meuron (Swiss) a duo of architects. I discovered their work and amazing models in the exhibition Archéologie de l'imaginaire at the CCA of Montreal in 2003. They use unrefined, non-expensive or common materials to create some flexible architectural coatings and structures.
Lisette Lemieux (Canadian, Montreal, Quebec) transcends common materials into a refined state. She also works with industrial glass and refraction, emphasizing the subtleties of light and coloured shades of whites.
Yechel Gagnon (Canadian, Montreal, Quebec) has a very creative use of plywood. She carves it to create a painting or a landscape. Her process of working on some kind of excavation really interests me. However, I use more addition of material than subtraction. We both consider the drawing of the wood like a topographical drawing that we would like to release.
Tara Donovan (American) uses cheap industrial materials. She layers Styrofoam cups, straws, buttons, asphalt shingles to create organic stacks and arrangements. I love her work a lot, but I feel that she is more minimalist than I am.
Tobias Putrih (Slovak) uses cardboard in a very interesting way in his Macula series. His work plays with the realm of design and the confusion between handmade and look alike machine-made.
Olafur Eliasson (Denmark) works with nature phenomena. He recreates waterfalls, mist, water waves, refraction and sunset, with a scientific approach. Using a surrounding installation set up, the viewer is often immersed into his big scale work.
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Amplitude, 2010, Plywood and single face cardboard, 84 x 43 x 15 inches, Guy L'Heureux photo credit |
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Amplitude, 2010, Plywood and single face cardboard, 84 x 43 x 15 inches, Detail, Guy L'Heureux photo credit |
What other fibre artists are you interested in?
Philip Beesley (from U-K, lives in Toronto) is an architect and teacher at the University of Waterloo. I like the way he uses technologies to create organic installations. He uses cutting plans and repetition to make detail parts that are finally assembled by hand with electronic components. His pieces evoke reefs, which develop like some sort of natural/futuristic architecture. My recent use of zip-ties could be partly associated to his work.
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Corps, Aire et Delta, 2011, Felt pen drawing, 22 x 102 inches (triptych), 22 x 30 inches (eache), Michel Dubreuil photo credit |
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Delta, 2011, Felt pen drawing, 22 x 30 inches, Drawing on the right, Michel Dubreuil photo credit |
Tell us about your studio and how you work:
My studio is separated into three parts. One part is used for drawings, little models, small experimentations and storage. A second part is used to do assembling, detail work, finishing and painting. I can close off this part to use encaustic with ventilation. The last part is used for more heavy work with machine tools, cutting and woodworking.
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Topographie, 2009, Pencils colors drawing, 30 x 22 inches, Alexis K. Laflamme photo credit |
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Topographie, 2009, Pencils colors drawing, Detail, Alexis K. Laflamme Photo credit |
What role do you think fibre art plays in contemporary art?
Fibre art may strongly relate to historical and cultural craft-making techniques, hand-making and technology development, as weaving was a precursor to the first computers. Today fibre art intersects with many types of art. It can be exploited through painting, sculpture, installation, video and performance. Even if today fibre artists continue to integrate new technologies within their work, like electronic and L.E.D. lights, fibre art continues to strongly position itself by its high quality of fabrication. Hand working and hand manipulations are precious values that tend to disappear with today's modernization of gigantic factories and assembly lines.
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Intervalle, 2010, Plywood and latex paint, 60 x 60 x 10 inches, On the left, and Brèche, 2010 Plywood and latex paint, 60 x 60 x 4 inches, On the right, Guy L'Heureux photo credit |
Where do you imagine your work in five years?
I am very interested in the integration of art through architecture. I would like to experience making permanent work by commission. I would like to succeed in producing art works reflecting my contemporary vision. The challenge will be to find a way to continue to make refined works with different scales and gravity issues. I wish to work in collaboration with other people and use manufacturing technologies in a design and custom making way.
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Intervalle, 2010, Plywood and latex paint, 60 x 60 x 10 inches, Guy L'Heureux photo credit |
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Intervalle, 2010, Plywood and latex paint, 60 x 60 x 10 inches, Detail, Guy L'Heureux photo credit |
What interests you about the World of Threads festival?
It is a way to discover a lot of artists that are new for me. It shows a big diversity of exciting work of fibre art. It is another way to get in contact with people that appreciate art and to learn more about our living culture.
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Brèche, 2010, Plywood and latex paint, 60 x 60 x 4 inches, Guy L'Heureux photo credit |
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Brèche, 2010, Plywood and latex paint, 60 x 60 x 4 inches, Detail, Guy L'Heureux photo credit |
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Interviews published by Gareth Bate & Dawne Rudman.