Regardez pas le ménage

Text by Colleen Wolstenholme

There are few opportunities for Canadian artists freshly out of art schools and it is quite difficult to both make a living and support a studio practice in Canada. When I graduated I also struggled to juggle a job at the DIA Art Foundation and maintain my studio practice. As a teacher looking back, I see this as a major obstacle for graduating art students. I initiated this residency program precisely to provide an early career opportunity by offering a space and enough time for someone to concentrate on their work and produce an exhibition.

We sent out a call for submissions and received over twenty applications from various parts of the world. Sarah Thibault was chosen among great applicants because we felt she was the most suited candidate. The residency has been a huge success and we are very proud to have helped Sarah create the work for her exhibition.

Funds for the residency were raised on Indiegogo and this enabled us to offer the opportunity for free. Art Mur graciously offered to host this exhibition, which was a crucial component of the initiative. It is unclear if the residency program will run again as we are dependent on funding, but one thing is certain, this first experience remains very positive.

Hantsport Artist Residency would like to thank Art Mûr, Gillian McCain, Joshua Maden, Anne Evans, and other supporters for contributing. Without their support it would not have been possible to offer this opportunity.

Colleen Wolstenholme 2015

Sarah Thibault is interested in the social codes that associate objects to a certain standing in society. She incorporates to her work decorative elements that are emblematic of a certain social culture – including furniture, garments, jewelry and goldsmithery. Thibault transforms them in order to elevate their visual function and create powerful symbols of prestige. The result recall Imperial Fabergé eggs, symbol of the wealth and power of the Russian Empire at the end of the nineteenth-century. In Thibault’s work, however, the pieces do not blatantly celebrate wealth, but rather question the social codes that support a material hierarchy while underlining the human desire to conform to them – to find comfort in them, even.

Sarah Thibault lives and works in Quebec, QC