Artist Talk - Claude Morin: Grandfather’s Teachings of the Meadow Lark

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Claude Morin, "Storms of Change - Les tempêtes du changement," nd

mixed media, Photograph by Derek Sandbeck

Reception: Saturday, June 9, 7 – 9 pm

Artist talk: Saturday, June 9, 2 pm

An exhibition by artist Claude Morin that pays tribute to his Fransaskois heritage and his attachment to the land.

Une exposition de l’artiste Claude Morin qui parle de son héritage fransaskois et de son attachement à la terre.

Claude Morin’s fondest memories of his maternal grandfather are of being together on the land, a farm on the outskirts of French settlement Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan. Morin has vivid memories of meadow larks, considered a messenger by Morin’s Fransaskois ancestors. From these roots a love of nature grew to a love for science and then art. Morin’s medium of choice, clay, is due to the natural relationship between clay and the earth – the material comes from the earth and is changed through water, air, and fire, representing earth’s ancestral beginnings.

This exhibition tells the story of memories and current perspectives, as well as Morin’s desire to explore his own interconnection with nature. This spiritually focused exhibition is the result of Morin’s process towards making and relationships with others: rather than attempt to force the material to behave, Morin’s approach is to allow the contribution of changes, accidents, and natural expressions that occur.

Morin states, “Gestures and accidents contribute to [the] composition. I must finally abandon the art to the caprices of fire. When the kiln is opened, the pieces slowly and subtly reveal their essence.”

Morin feels this process allows the essence of the work and of the clay to reveal itself. In his art practice Morin desires to further understand his connection to nature and others.