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Bonjour! Just arrived home from an inspiring few days spent in Canada’s jewel of a city, Montréal. I had never been there to take in the sites before and for my big 4-OH birthday, my awesome hubby treated me to one of Canada’s art meccas. There is art EVERYWHERE! The city is teaming with increadible sculptures around every corner. I could go on and on about all the things I loved about the city: the smells, the sites, the sounds, the tastes…..but I will keep this post on an art related track. 
For my birthday we visited the beautiful Musée des Beaux- Arts de Montréal. I enjoyed their extensive Canadian, European & Contemporary art collections, as well as the current exhibitions STUDIO GLASS, NAPOLEON, GLOBAL WARNING: Scenes of a Planet under Pressure and DRIVE END….all free of charge! Sadly, I missed the Inspiria jewelery exhibit….I’m actually really bummed about that. The Miles Davis exhibit was the only one that required an admission fee. My favourite Collections were the Canadian Art and the Decorative Arts and Design….which even had a cardboard lounge chair designed by one of my fav architects, Frank Gehry!!! Favourite exhibit had to go to GLOBAL WARNING….surprisingly. I didn’t particularly like the messages or most of the works, but it definately had the most emotional impact on me. I found it a very dark, depressing, disturbing and all around sad comentary on our current culture….not at all how I view the world. I must say, the curators of this exhibit definately forced the viewer to remove the rose coloured glasses…if even for a brief time.
Below are a few art related images from the trip…..no photos were allowed in the Contemporary Art, Miles Davis or the Global Warning exhibits….you’ll have to go see those ones for yourself!
Me at the wonderful Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal!
Just one of the 100's of gorgeous galleries in Old Montréal.
Street artists set up in Place Jacques-Cartier
Another quaint little gallery in the downtown area.
Interesting sculpture we saw on our hike up to Mount Royal
Rue des Artistes in Place Jacques-Cartier
Our local television station, Shaw TV, interviewed the 1st place winner of the annual juried show and the President of our Manitoba Society of Artists. Keep your eyes pealed! My painting even makes a little apperance near the end.
© Lori Zébière
© Lori Zébière
The Falls Preliminary
Next – This is the very first stage of a landscape. I’ve only got a few hours into it….LOTS more layers of paint to go! So it could change quite a bit before it’s done. I haven’t painted any landscapes for a while, and my home village of Kakabeka Falls inspired this one. In grade school we often had field trips that would take us across the big bad Highway (That’d be the Trans Canada Hwy #1 …… Hwy 11-17 for you Ontario folks who just like to be different) and over to the Park that encompasses this 130 foot high gorgeous, roaring waterfall on the Kaministiquia River (from an Ojibwe word meaning river with islands), called Kakabeka Falls (from an Ojibwe word meaning waterfall over a cliff). One of the largest falls in Northwestern Ontario.
The composition is out of my memory combined with a few reference photos I have. I have no images of this exact POV, so I’ve had to make a lot of it up. I have walked down into gorge below The Falls…..20+ years ago……so I have seen this perspective. Sadly, that is now prohibited due to the unstable state of the shale and the effects on fragile plant life that grows there. I don’t want to include the ugly bridge that runs over the upper river ruining a beautiful view, in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I love bridges, but this one is very pratical, not at all the beautiful bridge that deserves to be there. So, artistic license says it’s out! LOL!!
If this painting turns out, I may decide to paint it again larger. The Falls is one of my most favourite places and I think I may explore some of the surrounding landscape as well. This painting is on a 12″ x 16″ x 2″ deep gallery wrap and I’m painted around the sides, so it looks like a big chunk of stone.
© Lori Zébière
‘Manitaurora Borialis’
by Lori Zébière
24″x18″
Acrylic on Canvas
$850 CDN + shipping
This big bison bull was inspired by a buffalo rubbing stone discovered in the St. Norbert area just south of Winnipeg. I decided to treat him with the northern light effect I also gave my ‘Northern Lightmare’. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get him finished in time to enter in a show dedicated to honor the moving of that stone to a new safe resting place at the St. Nortbert Arts Centre park….but here he is now complete. He will hopefully make the jury process to get into the up coming ‘In Your Face’ show mid June.
My hubby wants me to paint him super huge, so I may need explore the Manitaurora Borialis more in the future.
Painting that inspired Nia's poem
The envy of stars,
Free spirited,
Dancing, twirling in the skies
Playfully teasing, seeking;
Your beautiful, lush, white fur coat
Woven with hues of yellow, mauve,
Orange, blue and green
Illuminates the cold blue canopy up above
Bellowing over lakes and rivers,
Mountains, fields and trees.
Oh mystical creature
Free and wild like the North wind
I am mesmerized by your beauty
strength and grace.
Your golden eyes
Questioning, curious and haunting
Beckons to me.
You smiled,
A promise that you’ll be back
On a cold, wintry night
When babies sleep
And lovers meet
Where the air is fresh and clean
When once again the North wind blows
And illuminates the skies
You’ll come to me
In the dark of night
You, my “Wolf of Light”.
About the contest
Wayne Arthur Gallery held a poetry writing contest throughout the month of May. The contest was open to all, and the direction was to select any piece of artwork in the gallery and write a poem inspired by it. Then all entrants were welcomed to come out May 28th and read their poems aloud an audience. Sadly, I couldn’t make the reading, and really wish I could have.
I was invited to attend the event as a poet had been inspired by my painting. Being that I was unable to attend, Bev Morton of Wayne Arthur Gallery, sent me the poem to read. It nearly brought tears to my eyes! I was so touched that my painting could inspire such beautiful words. An artist never knows if anyone ‘get’s it’ and her words validated my efforts. I couldn’t have been happier to learn that Nia was awarded first prize for her poem!!! The judge of the contest was Laurie Harper-Winning, an avid reader who is knowledgeable about Canadian literature, an experienced Toastmaster judge and the President of Sherlock Holmes Club.
Please join me in sending congratulations to Nia Dechausay on winning first place for her wonderful poem. Thank you Nia for selecting my piece from all the wonderful works in the gallery to write about!
© Lori Zébière
I am very pleased, my painting ‘Tulip Fan’ was just accepted into the 78th annual Manitoba Society of Artists open juried show. This is the first time I’ve entered this particular annual show and I am proud to have my work displayed among some of the Province’s top artists.
Show opens May 29th and runs through to June 27th at 6th floor The Bay, Downtown Winnipeg.
© Lori Zébière
‘Poppies’
24″x36″
Acrylic on Canvas
Something fun and colourful to paint on the rainy May long-weekend!
© Lori Zébière
’Northern Lightmare’
By Lori Zébière
12″x24″
Acrylic on Canvas
$288 CDN + $14 shipping
© Lori Zébière
‘Equuleus – The Little Horse’
By Lori Zébière
24″x36″
Acrylic on Canvas
$875.00 CAD + Shipping
Contact Lori for shipping cost and payment options.
e-mail: lori@zebiereart.com
This painting has been named after the tiny Equuleus Star Constellation, also known as The Little Horse. Ironically it’s my largest painting to date. Equuleus, pronounced Ek-WOO-Lee-us, is the mythical child of Pegasus. He is also Horse #1, in my 101 Painted Horses challenge.
