La Guilde presents an exhibition featuring the finalists of the Prix François-Houdé 2019
November 29, 2019 to February 23, 2020
Montreal, November 12, 2019 — La Guilde is proud to present, in partnership with the Conseil des métiers d’art du Québec and the Ville de Montréal, an exhibition featuring the finalists of the 24th edition of the Prix François-Houdé and the exhibition Love-Struck Souls by jeweller Aurélie Guillaume, last year’s recipient and award winner. From November 29th 2019 to February 23rd 2020, come and discover the works of the ten 2019 finalists: Gayané Avetisyan, jewelry artist; Maxime Baron, luthier; Madeleine Beaulieu, fashion designer; Brigitte Dahan, sculptor and ceramist; Montserrat Duran Muntadas, glass and textile artist; Dominika Durtan, jeweller; Delphine Platten, bookbinder; Emma Senft, cabinetmaker; Monique Ste-Marie, weaver artist and Tomy Tremblay, glass artist.
The recipient of the Prix François-Houdé will be named on Thursday, November 28, during the award ceremony, which will be taking place at La Guilde. This prize, awarded the Ville de Montréal, includes a grant and is given to a professional artist at the beginning of his or her career. It promotes the prominence of new creations on the Montreal crafts scene and helps young artist-creators share their artwork with the world. We invite you to discover a total of 21 works of art which showcase the best local artists.
Love-Struck Souls, the exhibition of last year’s 2018 recipient Aurelie Guillaume
“I believe in the importance of finding humour in tragedy, just like I believe that we can find beauty in ugliness. My work exists in these rich contradictions that are part of life.” - Aurélie Guillaume
Jeweller, enameller and illustrator of French Canadian background, Aurélie Guillaume studied jewellery at the École de joaillerie in Montreal, and at NSCAD University, in Halifax. She is known for her unique work with enamel, bringing together the traditional process of cloisonné and the contemporary imagery strongly rooted in comics and street art.
By using comic books (illustrations) as a starting point, the jeweller Aurélie Guillaume translates the intimate and emotional moments that the public can identify with. Her works illustrate characters that function as entrance points into a dream world based on experiences and emotions, which are themselves very real. Not only based on a traditional enamel process, dating back to the Byzantine Empire, when enamel was used to represent religious icons, the works are also influenced by the contemporary nature of street art, comic books, pop art and counterculture. By combining jewellery and illustration techniques, her art is between tradition and modernity.
About the Prix François-Houdé
The Prix François-Houdé is given to Montreal artists and artisans who are at the beginning of their careers. This award gives prominence to the remarkable craftsmanship of their creations and their original contributions to the practice of a craft related to the transformation of wood, leather, textiles, metals, glass, ceramics, paper or any other material. It also recognizes their mastery of exploratory techniques associated with their specific discipline. Remember that this award is in honour of François Houdé, an internationally renowned glass sculptor and the co-founder of the Espace VERRE.
ABOUT La Guilde
La Guilde, historical gallery and museum institution of Canadian art, has been preserving, promoting and encouraging fine crafts for more than one hundred years. Specializing in Inuit and First Nations art, La Guilde is a non-profit organization that holds a permanent collection, one of the most influential in Canada, a historically and culturally rich archives department, an educational program with a broad outreach, and a gallery which draws together works by renowned and emerging artists. Situated in downtown Montreal, La Guilde’s gallery offers all of its customers high quality contemporary art.
Image : Montserrat Duran Muntadas, Ovoïdes (detail), 2018, flame-worked glass, blown glass and fabric, 4.75 x 6 x 9.75 po / in. Photo: René Rioux. Courtesy of the artist.
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