Bruck Museum announces 2018 program
The Bruck Museum in Cowansville is officially kicking off its 2018 program this Thursday, November 30, that features six exhibitions, including a group exhibition featuring artists from the region.
In order to highlight Cowansville’s textile heritage and the Bruck Mills factory specifically, the museum is linking this heritage by integrating contemporary textile art into its program. While maintaining its visual arts focus, the Bruck Museum is offering a new showcase for artists working with yarn, fibre and fabric. The current collective exhibition, Filon textile, opens the show with an exploration of the rich potential of this artistic niche that will reach new audiences.
For its 2018 edition, the museum presents a variety of artistic approaches where a painter, photographer, weaver, ceramist, and multidisciplinary artist reveal their creations.
The vernissage takes place with a 5 à 7 on Thursday, November 30 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the museum, 225 Principale St. in Cowansville.
Overview of the 2018 program Lana Greben and Francesca Penserini — January 25 to March 3 — vernissage on January 27 at 2 p.m.
In a seamless but motley parade, artist Lana Greben presents an installation inviting the visitor to take part in an interpretative game in front of an arrangement of drawings, mannequins dressed in knits, clothing, as well as a mural created from a photomontage. Through a scenographic strategy, pathways are created and audience strolls are part of the parade. The artist intends to draw inspiration from Cowansville’s textile heritage in the staging of the exhibition. Through drawing, embossed engraving, sculpture, and the use of light, multidisciplinary artist Francesca Penserini reveals the mark left by the evolution of fabric and draws trompel’oeil images on paper that has retained the imprint of laces, ribbons, and fabrics under the soft press.
Odette Théberge — March 15 to April 28 — vernissage on March 17 at 2 p.m.
In the exhibition Mementos, the burned books of multidisciplinary artist Odette Théberge protest the threat of the death of the paper book. While the writing is dematerialized, with novels consumed on tactile tablets, the works recall object that one touches, the contact with the paper, the pages that one turns, and the pleasure of reading. Some works honour Quebec poets including Pierre Morency, Raoul Duguay, and Gaston Miron.
Axel Bussmeyer — May 10 to July 7 — vernissage on May 12 at 2 p.m.
Photographer, designer, and painter Axel Bussmeyer proposes a series of photographs and paintings. The architectural photographs in the Magic Temples series question the hidden power of the image. A moving reality becomes a hymn to the creative capacity of the individual who perceives the magic of a world of a thousand facets. Between figuration and abstraction, the paintings in the series The Two Red Chairs transcend the essential themes of our humanity by highlighting the contradictory elements that are, among others, life, death, war, and peace.
Josée Barrette and Blandine Ouellet — July 12 to September 3 — vernissage on July 14 at 2 p.m.
In a pictorial forest, one tree at a time, painter Josée Barrette borrows her motifs and colours from nature. She represents unidentified species in an anonymous space that is more invented than mimetic and keeps at bay a rational descriptive realism, opting for a more instinctive practice nourished by impressions, sensations, and reminiscences. Vegetation and nature are also the sources of the inspiration and research of ceramic artist Blandine Ouellet, who proposes a series of high-reliefs inspired by the bryophytes, primary elements of our forests. The bright colors of her ceramics bring a new sparkle to these plants with great resilience.
Collective exhibition — September 13 to October 27 — vernissage on September
In The Clemency of Sound, the weaver and visual artist, Mariepier St-george breaks new ground by extensive research, the combination of disciplines (textile and sound), and the blending of old and new weaving techniques. It offers three-dimensional textile works that present a colourful and serene sensory experience. This project is the result of research that focuses primarily on
computerized and the traditional Jacquard loom technique, with the goal of creating new combinations of colors, patterns, and textures.
The Bruck Museum
The Bruck Museum features the Bruck-lee permanent collection of more than 70 paintings and sculptures created by the Cowansville Art Center, which, from 1956 to 1979 played the role of a gallery exhibiting regional, Montreal, and Canadian artists. It includes works by A. Y. Jackson from the Group of Seven and several artists from the Beaver Hall Group. Since 2009, the Lee-vermeille collection, the result of a sponsorship project, has added a contemporary aspect to the museum with its garden sculptures and paintings. The museum presents timely exhibitions in visual arts, mainly by artists living in the region but also those from outside. Built in 1874 in the Second Empire style as a branch of the Eastern Townships Bank, the remarkable building is in itself a place to visit and the starting point for a heritage tour. The museum is open from Thursday to Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. and from June 24 to September 4, every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.