Geneviève Dagenais

Alice Zerini - le Reste

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À marée latente

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Cloistered in her apartment while she patiently heals, Geneviève draws inspiration from the ancient accote-pots* to make two Cale-Corps (Body Shims), one for her own knee and the other for Rosalie Gamache's bruised arm. She also designs a Cale-ciel (sky-shim) for the idle horizon by sampling the shapes drawn by the curtains that frame it. The glazes' frosty caress condenses on the surface of the ceramic objects, maybe to underline the mysterious nature of the support they provide. 

 

Meanwhile, Alice travels the Saint Laurent River. Her pieces bear the memory of the vessel that carried her across the waves from Montreal to the North Shore, via the Magdalen Islands, the lower St. Lawrence and Gaspé. Throughout her travels, she delves into the seabed and trough archives, exploring the history, customs and other rumours of the great river, extracting the clay and seashells she uses to make her glazes. These are authentic imaginary chronicles she models to edge the depths of the familiar river towards us.

 

The two artists' adventure comes together in the gallery space through the natural mutual attraction of these two complementary universes. So it should come as no surprise that Geneviève and Alice were plotting without our knowledge long before we proposed this collaboration. 

 

*The "accote-pot" was a utensil used to support the pot during cooking, preventing it from spilling its contents into the hearth.