Client: Mouvement Essarts
Location: St-Pie-de-Guire, Canada
Completion date: 2019
Project Team
Other
Mouvement Essarts
Other
Pierre Tessier
Artessier
Overview
Francois Mathieu “ExCroissant” 2019 Wood (aspen), concrète. 395 x 450 x 140 cm.
Goals
Mouvement Essarts is an organization dedicated to creation, promotion and dissemination of contemporary art, especially sculpture and installation. It has its mission to provide cultural mediation, so proposes creation activities every year, in the form of symposiums.
“Rencontres Essarts” aims to share that environment of creation with artists coming from Australia, France, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Lithuania, Bulgaria, England and United States, always combined with Quebec!
The visitors are invited to explore over a mile of paths in wooden areas and meet about 40 large scale sculptures by artists from 14 different countries. The garden is opened to visitors for free any time of year, even in winter.
Every year, new artists are invited to work on-site and be able to obtain human and technical resources, as well as the various materials. The sculptures become jointly owned by artist and the organization, which provides maintenance and promotion.
Process
As I am accustomed to lumber, it was a good challenge to play with raw wood or any organic matter. In addition, we had a wandering day to a giant recovery center for recycling, in the surrounding area. Through tons of industrial odd junks, I just picked some obsolete construction helmets, which I immediately have seen as mold potential, according to their flared form.
Back in the sculpture garden, I have spotted a large aspen and its specific branch which an almost regular curve, so we felled that large branch in the purpose. To me, that trunk is still growing, somehow. For I also like round shapes and mechanical movements, I equipped the log with ball bearings, made out of concrete molded helmets.
At first sight, growing movement is easy to perceive, according to both vegetal origin and mechanical device. Once we have noticed the bearing system, the helmet impression suddenly appears on it, bringing new mixed up meanings, up to eveyoneImages .
Curiously, the use of concrete in such a place is not so outlandish. The organic shapes probably help, bringing it to be confused with stone.