Arts and crafts

ARTISTS AND CRAFTSPEOPLE

The term “arts and crafts” covers a broad array of artistic production. Products range from utilitarian and decorative items inspired by traditional techniques and contemporary forms, to well-designed mass-production objects and one-of-a-kind works of art displayed in specialized galleries and public and private collections.

Over 2,500 professional craftspeople are active across Québec. Arts and crafts are broken down into eight broad categories:

• wood
• ceramics
• leather and skins
• metal
• paper (including binding and printing)
• textiles (including textile creation and printing)
• glass
• other (organic and synthetic materials, stone, decorative arts, etc.)

Production quality is ensured by standards set by the artists and craftspeople themselves, under the aegis of the Conseil des métiers d’art du Québec (CMAQ). A number of regional organizations also support craftspeople in their respective geographical areas.

Québec artists’ and craftspeople’s excellence and creativity are obvious in all sectors, and this has paved the way to extensive international collaboration in terms of training, trade fairs and exhibitions. Some of Québec’s internationally known craft artists are as follows:

• ceramist Maurice Savoie, the arts and crafts sector’s first winner of the Prix Paul-Émile Borduas and a recipient of the Saidye Bronfman Award, Canada's foremost distinction for excellence in the fine crafts
• art cutler and jeweller Chantal Gilbert, another winner of the Saidye Bronfman Award
• Léopold Foulem, member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, best known for his contemporary ceramics, who has exhibited his works around the world
• fibre artist Marcel Marois, whose textile creations are included in the collections of Québec public museums and are displayed worldwide on a regular basis
• textile creators Louise Lemieux-Bérubé, Monique Beauregard, Rosie Godbout, Élyse de Lafontaine and Mireille Racine
• ceramists Denise Goyer and Alain Bonneau (“Goyer Bonneau”), whose original works are known in a number of countries and have won prestigious awards
• ceramists Lisette Savaria, France Goneau, Marie-Andrée Côté, Monique Giard, Pascale Girardin and Gilbert Poissant
• European-heritage jewellers Antoine Bassani, Roger Lucas and Georges Delrue
• resolutely contemporary jewellers Roland Dubuc, Claudio Pino, Pierre-Yves Paquette, Gustavo Estrada, Christine Larochelle, Lynn Légaré, Luci Veilleux, Antoine Lamarche and Georges Schwartz
• glass artists recognized in Québec and abroad, including Ronald Labelle, Michèle Lapointe, Maude Bussières, Carole Frève, Donald Robertson, Patrick Primeau and John Paul Robinson