The work Vent nouveau-from there to here, produced for the regional association Neighbors, was funded by Heritage Canada as part of the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, in 2016.
Artists : Annie Boulanger et Ariane Ouellet
Medium : Acrylic paint on brick
Dimensions : 50 feet x 18 feet
Year : 2017
Photo credit : Ariane Ouellet
Artist and illustrator Annie Boulanger explains that the mural 'depicts a worker, we assume he is a miner and with the orientation of the lane, it’s as if he is going to work at the mine. He blows a kiss to his wife who is hanging her load of laundry on the clothesline. The flowers of her dress are blowing in the wind like kisses she is sending to her man'.
In the linens that float in the wind on the clothesline, we can see traditional motifs from some of the countries where the members of Neighbours are from: Slovenia, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, France and Scotland. This mural was designed to be painted in a lane in Noranda so that the characters would be positioned in such a way that the lane would complement the work by serving as a backdrop.
Born in 1978 in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Annie has always drawn.
She studied Arts at the CEGEP followed by a foray into multidisciplinary visual creation at the UQAT, but, curious about many other things and wanting to see the world, she chose to take a few enriching detours, became seriously interested in photography and cinema and traveled a bit before finally returning to what she is most excited about today: illustration.
Website : annieboulanger.com
Photo credit : Marc-Olivier Thibault
Ariane Ouellet is a professional visual artist. After college studies in photography at Cégep du Vieux-Montréal and Concordia University, she completed a multidisciplinary bachelor's degree in visual arts at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
While continuing to work as a studio artist and exhibiting regularly in exhibition centers in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, then at the Rock Lamothe art contemporain Gallery, she began in 2015 to develop an expertise in mural art. In 2020, in addition to sharing her knowledge as a trainer, mentor or cultural mediator through the Artist in the School program, she devotes most of her time to mural projects throughout the region. Among her outstanding achievements, she was the project manager and master builder of the mural tribute to Richard Desjardins Des territoires coulés dans nos veines, co-created in 2018 in an underpass in Rouyn-Noranda.
This mural received the Prix Culture et développement 2019 from the Réseau Les Arts et La Ville, and was selected for the Public Art Review of the Creative City Network of Canada in October of the same year.
Website : arianeouellet.ca