A residency for creation, renewal and discovery
involvement| ARTISTS 2022 |SCHEDULE | HISTORY | artwork 2022 |video documentary|What participants said|partners
DISCOVER THE WORKS OF OUR TWO ARTISTS ELPARO AND CHLOÉ COOMANS,
AFTER 3 WEEKS OF RESIDENCY:
For 25 years, ATSA has been creating programming; mentoring; and producing and presenting works by artists from here and elsewhere as part of its events. It is now time to impart to this expertise a physical presence, a space: a residency at the service of artists and creation, in ATSA’s image, in a spirit of interdisciplinary openness and meeting a flexibility of needs.
To mark its 25th anniversary, ATSA, When Art Takes Action launches a new phase in its history:
La Montagnarde, a residency for creation, renewal and discovery. A residency at the service of artists and their creativity, with a spirit of interdisciplinary openness and able to meet a flexibility of needs. A place where the forest is at the heart of a project for the renewal and inspiration of artists, those struggling due to lack of funds, and newcomers wishing to better understand their new country.
We start off the 2022 season with artists elparo and Chloé Coomans, then will come a call for projects, striking a balance between up-and-coming talent and accomplished artists, diversity, autochthony, and hyper-local, provincial, national and international influences! Expect a commingling of disciplines, as the aim is to think, to create, to start over in the face of the great void that makes all things possible. The precise location remains for now anonymous out of a wish to preserve the tranquility of the creators and the neighbourhood.
In ATSA’s image, La Montagnarde is a space that unites art and social imperatives, that believes in the forest’s ability to broaden people’s horizons and confidence in the future and to provide:
- A space to find the focus, inspiration and renewal that are ideal for artistic creation;
- A place of peace and discovery for people going through a difficult time in their life, or for newcomers to the region;
- All with guidance from artist and mentor Annie Roy.
call for participation
To get involved during the week from October 19 to November 4, indicate your presence at info@atsa.qc.ca or show up at the times indicated (from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) enter your details and we will contact you! We will favor the afternoons!
Workshops and moments of meetings will take place between artists and citizens to learn and help the artists in residence.
FIRST DATES TO MARK ON YOUR CALENDAR
* October 9 from 1 to 3 p.m. :
- Understand the La Montagnarde project and the approaches of our first guest artists : elparo and Chloé Coomans
- Exchange with citizens at Atelier culturel located, 1920 chemin du Village, Saint-Adolphe-d'Howard J0T 2B0
OR on Facebook Live : https://fb.me/e/2z72jABSF
REPLAY VIDEO
- Facebook event HERE
* October 22-23 :
- Introductory ceramic modeling workshop with Chloé Coomans, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Saint-Josse in Brussels
- Help on the work of the artist elparo
* October 29-30 :
- Modeling of ceramic pieces
- Creation of an artisanal paper kiln for the firing of ceramics (Oct 30)
- Participation in the creation of a monumental work in wood with elparo
- Facebook event HERE
No special skills required, get involved by expressing your interest to do so to Annie Roy at info@atsa.qc.ca
* November 4-5 : friday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
- End of residency community opening
- Meeting with the artists elparo and Chloé
- Discovery of the works on site
- Facebook event HERE
Artists 2022
elparo
A self-taught artist, elparo first found expression through graffiti. Today, in situ installations take up such a large part of his practice that he has difficulty fully devoting himself to pictoral art. Planks, furniture, small crates, pallets – everything he comes across in the street is potentially a starting point for a new creation.
His practice is in constant flux: metal, ceramics, collage, engineered wood, plywood, cork and branches have all found their way into his works. A festival, an arts trail, a symposium, commissions, land art events – an installation appears anywhere dialogue between volume and the environment is possible.
Artiste Chloé Coomans
Chloé Coomans is an explorer amid a bounty of disciplines: sculpture, ceramics, illustration, painting, screen printing, etching, video, installations.
Her protean universe is an invitation to a dreamlike world that questions the origins and future of humanity. It connects us with our atavistic collective memory, resisting oversimplification, transforming the violence in our actions into gestures of tenderness, for a moment of exhilaration. Her vocabulary is poetic, engaged, utopian, universal, a continuous to and fro between love and revolution; innocence and cruelty; silent beauty and confident ugliness. She rebels against the aberrations and injustices of our world, waging full-frontal attacks with arrows drawn, then lays down her weapons at the alter to proffer flowers to soothe spirits and capture the beauty.
artwork 2022
elparo artist :
Made entirely of wood, this natural installation plays with its environment. Facing the street, a volume emerges from the ground of La Montagnarde, offering a dynamic work in the image of this new place. Voluntarily abstract and untitled, it is free of interpretation, giving free rein to the imagination, it is a gateway to exchange and sharing.
Dimension: 6 meters in diameter, 5 meters high
Materials: wooden crusts
Duration of creation: 3 weeks
Chloé Coomans artist :
« Chrysalide »
Installation - Sculpture
Materials: Branches, wood, 35 ceramics
Like a dreamlike space outside of time and the frantic race of our time, Chloe offers us this bubble suspended in the silence of the forest. A place that brings us back to our childhood dreams. A place where we can take refuge and which invites us to explore our aspirations, between earth and sky. Ceramic clouds cling to it to underline the softness of its poetic proposal. The swirl of branches creates a movement that raises us higher and higher towards the tree tops.
histoRY
ANNIE ROY, ATSA and LA MONTAGNARDE
Annie Roy was a contemporary dancer with Montréal Danse and for several choreographers prior to founding ATSA in 1997 with her husband, the artist Pierre Allard.
Following the death of her companion in life and in art in 2018, the forest took on a whole other significance for Annie Roy, becoming a haunt of acceptance, a space wherein to rebuild. She emerged with a renewed outlook full of gratitude, now inspired to share. In 2022, Annie decided to purchase the cottage next to hers to create La Montagnarde. As a neighbour, Annie will be able to mentor and to orchestrate the residencies, while giving her accomplices in art the room they need. Both properties are adjacent to public lands providing access to kilometres of wild forest where one can find inspiration and give full vent to one’s sorrows and joys, fostering a spirit of discovery and decompression. A feedback component will be included in the creation workshop at St-Adolphe d’Howard and other cultural venues throughout the Laurentians with an eye toward boosting the presence of art in the lives of the region’s citizens.
documentary (FR)
Alexandre Fournier from NousTV Laurentides, followed our two artists during the 3 weeks of residency, discover the episodes :
EPISODE 1
On the outskirts of the forest of Saint-Adolphe d'Howard, La Montagnarde invites artists to create collective and inspiring works on site. Before the arrival of the artists, Annie Roy prepares the site for this creative space.
EPISODE 2
It is the arrival of the artists elparo and Chloé Coomans who discover the place of residence and speak to us about their artistic practice as well as the works which they will carry out!
EPISODE 3
The artists Chloe and elparo take possession of their space and the creation begins! Some obstacles to overcome, they adapt to their working environment and the materials they have.
EPISODE 4
The time has come to fire the ceramic pieces for Chloé Coomans work with the installation of an artisanal paper kiln, with the help of the citizens of Saint-Adolphe d'Howard.
EPISODE 5
After 3 weeks, the residency is coming to an end. Thanks to the artists Chloé Coomans and elparo for inaugurating La Montagnarde with two beautiful works!
What participants said
« It was an unforgettable experience for me! Mathieu and Chloe are remarkable people, with an artistic vision very inspired by nature! I totally fell under Chloé's charm, she is a warm and approachable person, she brought out my artistic side, the time to make the small ceramics and to assist her in the construction of the cocoon!
The making of the paper kiln was also a discovery and a highlight of this residency. And the result! The work that will remain in nature, will be for me a place where it will be good to go to recharge my batteries! There is something magical, and of communion with nature very strong in this Poetic Cocoon...
Thank you Chloe for the happiness you brought me, you are an inspiring woman. To be in the forest with you, to see all the evolution, from day 1 to the end, was an immense pleasure!
Thank you to Annie, without whom this would not have been possible! And to Mathieu, for his monumental sculpture, which he built by himself, this snake will be the totem of our friendship...
Long life to La Montagnarde! » Brigitte Renaud
« For me, the Montagnarde is a great discovery. There are many ideas of integration and participation in a local social and environmental development project that seem to be emerging. The project is in process of construction and the municipality should better support and disseminate information.
Personally, I liked the nature of this project that joined me in my craft practice of ceramics. Moreover, the project is an amalgam between social and art. I believe in it a lot and it is full of hope. » Céline Beaudoin
partners
Partenaires : 
