À propos de Prudence Heward

Prudence Heward (1896-1947) est une figure centrale du monde artistique montréalais de l’entre-deux-guerres. Célèbre pour ses couleurs et ses formes sculpturales uniques de style expressionniste, ses portraits de femmes modernes et audacieuses sont incomparables.

À propos de ce qui l’inspire

Inspirée par la peinture de Prudence Heward, The Emigrants (Les immigrantes), l’œuvre Diaspora relie les luttes souvent semblables que les personnes réfugiées mènent à travers le temps. Dans mon interprétation personnelle de cette œuvre d’Heward, je considère qu’il s’agit de deux femmes qui immigrent dans un nouveau pays dans l’espoir d’y trouver de meilleures opportunités. En regardant la peinture de Prudence Heward, on peut lire l’émotion et la sentimentalité que l’artiste a réussi à rendre dans leurs visages. J’ai toujours admiré sa capacité à peindre des femmes dans des portraits d’une telle complexité, malgré la désapprobation du public à l’égard de ces représentations. C’est pourquoi j’ai voulu communiquer le même message aux mères et aux femmes ukrainiennes qui cherchent refuge au Canada en raison de la récente guerre dans leur pays. Spécialement pour les mères, les traumatismes complexes de la guerre sont encore plus accablants. Les deux peintures montrent les luttes auxquelles les femmes sont confrontées en période de migration.

–Chantel Mei (9e année, Webber Academy, Calgary, Alberta)
 

À propos de Molly Lamb Bobak

Though Vancouver-born Molly Lamb Bobak (1920–2014) was the first Canadian woman appointed as an official war artist, she is revered as a painter of modern life, producing vibrant cityscapes, scenes of domestic interiors, and still-life paintings of flowers with an instinctive use of colour.

À propos de ce qui l’inspire

Molly Lamb Bobak is well known for her interior scenes and still-life paintings, which fascinate me the most within her body of work. The distortions in her painting Still Life Revisited, as well as the colours and motifs in Interior with Moroccan Carpet, were hugely inspiring to me in the creation of my work. Bobak’s distortions equally evoke the work of Paul Cézanne, who has always been a big source of inspiration for me. Le rassemblement represents the simplicity of daily routine that has always captivated me, particularly meal times. They demand to be observed and listened to, and I wanted to reflect the way in which food has the potential to assemble a group of people. Whether in the military in London during the Second World War, or in her role as the first Canadian woman to be appointed an official war artist, Bobak inspires me enormously as an artist and a person.

–Maya Padlewska (Grade 12, École secondaire publique De La Salle, Ottawa, Ontario)

À propos de Annie Pootoogook

In 2006, Annie Pootoogook (1969–2016) became the first Inuk artist to win the prestigious Sobey Art Award. Known for her drawings depicting scenes of everyday life in the North, Pootoogook is unmatched in her ability to render personal experiences with stark honesty and thoughtfulness.

À propos de ce qui l’inspire

In the artwork Composition (Plucking the Grey Hair) by Annie Pootoogook, a man sprawls over the crossed legs of a woman as she plucks his grey hairs with tweezers. This work, along with many of Pootoogook’s pieces, captures a snapshot of Inuit life. I feel an undeniable connection to the tenderness of this pencil drawing; the situation is mundane, yet the love is evident. My mother once told me a story about her experience as a new Chinese Canadian immigrant. While raising me and my brother, she would drop me off at home, and rush my brother to swim practice, cutting broccoli at the pool to prepare dinner. In this simple action, my mother illustrates the dedication and love she put into raising me and my brother. Similarly to how Pootoogook demonstrates the tender mundanity of plucking grey hairs, I wanted to feature the compassionate normality of my mother cutting broccoli florets.

–Jamie Li (Grade 11, Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School, Markham, Ontario)
 

À propos de C.D. Hoy

C.D. (Chow Dong) Hoy (1883–1973) is one of the earliest Chinese Canadian photographers on record. His portraits reflect the many cross-sections of a diverse community in Quesnel, British Columbia, at the turn of the twentieth century.

À propos de ce qui l’inspire

In the crowded but cozy alleys of Jiangnan, neighbours are close to each other. I once lived in a neighbourhood in Jiangnan, a city located in the southern part of China, during a summer vacation when I was little. This oil painting, named Accompany, is inspired by an old photograph my father took when we stayed there. The boy and his dog in the picture were our neighbours, and we used to go biking together. I created this painting to reminisce about the harmony between neighbours and my happy childhood. I used contrasting sizes of strokes to create a dynamic, with the finer strokes depicting the lovely rhythm between the two subjects, and the wilder strokes rendering the texture of the wall. The comparison between dark, highly saturated colors and the white wall brings out the subjects. The subtle colours immersed in the white wall and on each object convey the richness of neighbourhood life.

–Yitong Wang (Grade 11, The Study, Montreal, Quebec)

À propos de Joyce Wieland

Critically examining issues related to the environment, war, nationalism, and women’s rights across a number of media including painting and experimental film, Joyce Wieland (1930–1998) was an influential figure within contemporary Canadian art.

À propos de ce qui l’inspire

Drawing reference from vintage silent film, I created a storyboard of emotions to illustrate the lost language of facial expression during the rise of COVID-19. The pandemic has been incredibly impactful in how it’s changed the way society communicates with one another, relying solely on words rather than facial expressions. By contrast, silent films depend on expression to convey their message. This reversal of situations led me to create a historic, timeless statement, as did Canadian artist Joyce Weiland and her O Canada lithograph from 1970. My piece unravels like a giant filmstrip, with each slide portraying my masked self, holding a sign with a mouth cut out expressing a different emotion. Between each photo, subtitles aid viewers in understanding the emotions I was trying to express. Inspired by Weiland’s visuals of “mouth art,” I aimed to capture the concept of a silent but universal message.

–Tatyanna Wilke (Grade 12, Arts Umbrella, Vancouver, British Columbia)