InterconneXion is a project where artists created a series of large-scale artworks that were carved onto wood and then printed collaboratively, outdoors, using a steamroller.

In collaboration with artPontiac and with the support of the Conseil des arts du Québec, the interconneXion project came to fruition and brought together seven printmakers and a videographer.

The theme at large was looking at the . . .

connection between artists and their environment and the connection between each other and also depicting connections between various things that they see in their life. It also connects francophone, anglophone and LGBTQ artists who are members of the Outaouais arts community.

The project was a collaborative one, according to Louise Guay, the organizer. It was important to do so because when you create, you want to ensure that everybody is in the same mood and that everyone is moving in the same direction, she said. “At the end of it, we had a certain kind of unity.”

The seven Outaouais artists began work on the project last autumn, and all found different ways to incorporate the theme through their own life and perspective on the meaning behind interconnection.

The videographer’s role was capturing the process of creation and the relationship among the printmakers, what they are learning and sharing.

The project was a collaborative effort as artists met at artPontiac in Portage-du-Fort to plan the project and share their concepts. Each of the printmakers carved two three-foot by two-foot woodblocks. After the carvings were done, the printing took place in Shawville in August 2020 and the public was able to view both the inking of the large woodblocks and the printmaking process, enabled by a large construction-sized steamroller.

The art was first displayed in Stone Gallery (Portage du Fort), la Maison de art (Saint-Faustin), Deep River public library, and is currently in Centre D’Action Culturelle de la MRC de Papineau (Montebello).

Meet the artists

Some of the artists highlighted a connection to their community’s history, others a connection to nature and the environment. This exhibit was unique because all the artists had never worked with a steamroller, and it was their first time using this style of woodblock printing.

Each artist made two pieces for this project.

Guay, also one of the artists, created a cosmos and the DNA of an artist.

For Guay, the experience was cosmic, as she referred to it. “For me, it was a kind of spiritual aspect. It was the link to what constitutes the basis of being in existence for an artist. So it’s an interconnection but on another level.”

Guay has been doing art since 2013. She has also participated in workshops at the Pontiac School of Art in Portage-du-Fort (QC) and took courses at the Ottawa School of Art and private courses in encaustic and other mediums.

Working with wood was entirely new for her, but she enjoyed the challenge.

Her favourite part was printing in the street. “We didn’t know what would be the result. It was a surprise. It could have been very ugly but it went very well,” laughed Guay. And added “Well enough that we can have a very nice exhibit.”

Doing art for most of her life, Valerie Bridgeman has worked with different mediums to create art throughout her life. From hand-built functional and sculptural clay work to handmade paper, book binding, and finally, printmaking.

Both of Bridgeman’s pieces highlight the mutual support and community caring. In one of her pieces, she used a moment to portray connectedness between two people. One of her pieces is of a young girl from the 4H Club hugging her mentor with her prized winning rabbit in the foreground. It depicts the connection between the child and an animal that they’re caring for, but also the connection between the girl and her mentor.

When asked what she enjoyed most she responded with, “the interconnection between the artists, it was so much fun to work with other people. It suits my personality. I liked working together.”

A self-taught artist, Dale Shutt has worked out of her Grand Calumet Island studio for 46 years, she has been a silk painter and most recently a printmaker.

In Shutt’s first piece she explained she creates a world map where she portrays the different continents with a tree and they are joined by the trunk. “Trying to show that even with oceans between incredibly different cultures. We are all connected around the world.”

Her main theme was the connectedness of people with nature. One of the challenges of carving wood is not making a mistake and if you do you just have to incorporate it into the original idea, she said.

Shutt enjoyed working with the artists. “It was a wonderful experience as an artist and a whole lot of fun,” she said.

Following the journey of the artists with their pieces was Glen Hartle, the designated videographer. He enjoyed being able to have full autonomy over the creative process of how to piece the video together.

For Hartle, photography and videography have been his passions for almost 20 years. So when Guay asked him to be a part of this project he was thrilled.

“Being a wallflower was hugely advantageous because I didn’t distract them from what they were doing. And if you’re going to tell a story, or if you’re going to do a documentary that’s a good place to be because you’re gonna get the real output,” said Hartle.

Because the project started in the midst of covid he was unable to be in the studio with the artists as he had hoped. “Covid kind of hijacked that. And so the footage of the actual carving didn’t happen the way that I had envisioned it,” he said.

What he chose to do instead was ask each of the artists to make videos of themselves while they worked, with the help of family or friends. He captured different moments of their work, and when the pieces were being printed. In his video he wanted to represent them as a team but also show them as individual creators, he explained.

“I think it is a very fair and accurate representation of what took place. And I think it is a very representative version of each of the artists involved,” said Hartle.

For the exhibit, the video was made to be playing on a loop to show people the process of how the art came to be. The video can be viewed on youtube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=48EMdwfpoms.

The art is still on display in Montebello until July 3. The art’s final stop will make its way to Montreal to be displayed at Galerie St Laurent Erga in September.

Valerie Bridgeman standing next to her displayed pieces.

Louise Guay, organizer and participant in the exhibit told THE EQUITY it was a spiritual experience.

Glen Hartle spoke to THE EQUITY about his experience being a videographer for this project.

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