Biography
Having been born and raised in Québec City, Brigitte Gourdeau‘s artistic techniques were greatly influenced by Quebec artists such as Albert Rousseau, Jean- Guy Desrosiers, Pierre Hamel and Georgette Pihay. In 1983 she obtained a college degree in Fine Arts at the Notre-Dame de Foy Campus in Quebec City.
Brigitte then left her homeland for Europe, where she studied techniques in sketching, watercolors, collages, painting, sculpture, engraving and photography at the École Supérieure d’Art Visuel (ESAV), now known as Haute École d’ Art et de Design (HEAD). She was successful in obtaining a Type A degree in three-dimensional option in 1988 from ESAV. She also studied history and sociology at the University of Geneva in Switzerland during this period. Up to 1996, the artist hosted art workshops and saw her paintings exhibited in the Rhone Alps region.
Some of Gourdeau’s canvasses can also be found in private and public art collections, such as the Collection d’Estampes du réseau des bibliothèques d’Annecy in France and the City of Charlesbourg’s art collection.
Upon her return to Quebec in 1996, and up to the year 2000, her artistic endeavours competed with her management of a family business.
From 2006 to 2008, Gourdeau hosted art workshops in her studio of Beaupré. The artist also planned and led collective artworking parties for family, sporting and corporate events.
In 2010 Brigitte opened her studio/art gallery at the mouth of the Parc du Mont Ste-Anne in Beaupré, Québec, the cradle of her inspiration.
As of 2013 Brigitte’s creations could be seen in some home staging projects in Quebec and Ontario Provinces. Her oeuvres were being exhibited in symposiums and, in 2016, she was invited to become a member of the Circuit des Créateurs de la Côte de Beaupré. Brigitte Gourdeau has created event at her studio entitled, thé à l’atelier (teatime at the studio). Since 2017, this activity is officially on the program of “Les Journées de la Culture”, a Quebec provincial art celebration.
In 2017, Brigitte collaborated with the Canadian author, Wayne Watson, where, through her illustrations she brought to life the characters in a children’s book entitled, I am a Leader Now, published in 2019.
To this day, her research, collaborations and emergences in the art world are an integral part of Gourdeau’s art.
Artistic creative path
Brigitte Gourdeau finds her inspiration in nature and the changing of the seasons. She is fascinated with the aura that emanates from the fauna and flora she encounters on her hikes through the forests in her region. In her meanderings, she is constantly attentive to how the lighting provided by nature creates a metamorphosis of the scenery before her. Brigitte observes, discovers and is in constant awe of nature’s work.
Upon her return to her studio, Brigitte records her observations and impressions of what nature gifted her on her latest trek. Her canvasses are in sync with the seasons, pastels mimic the energy and the light variances of spring and the elegance of summer. Autumn brings about more gravid tones while a chromatic palette nuanced by the dance between the light and its shadows accompanies the cocooning that winter demands. Brigitte’s objective is to create a permanent presence from a fleeting moment.
The artist uses charcoal, watercolours, acrylics, oils and collage to create the different effects of textures, transparency and opacity. The mediums used by the artist will overlay, intersect and sometimes disappear, then reappear, in the course of their journey to the canvass.
Brigitte prefers working on large formats when creating her artwork as she believes this allows her to better capture the splendour of nature and the effort behind the creative process. Her art favours the wildlife that surrounds her home: squirrels, ducks, geese, owls, deer and moose. The spark created in a glance and an attitude between protagonists breathes life in their ephemeral tryst. The beholder of the artwork creates his own story, walks away with his own memory of his encounter with the canvass.
The artist does not portend to be an expert on the creation of portraits of the animal kingdom, her artworks are a medley of impressions, inspirations, shapes, motion, colours and light moving to the rhythm of her consultations with her environment.