Canadian Folk Art and Outsider Art
Gratien Milette. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Sainte-Adele, Quebec. Active third quarter 20th century.
A primitive wood carver, Gratien Milette is known for making deep relief carvings of farm life. They were not colored or finished. One is shown below. It is signed and dated on the reverse (1980).
Gratien Milette. A primitive carving of A farmer in the stable:
Gratien Millete. The Farmer in the Stable.
His mark:
Gratien Milette. His Mark.
Abe Patterson. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Pembroke, Ontario. Active early to mid 20th century.
Abe Patterson made carvings of farm animals and animals from the wild; especially Moose and Deer. He also made objects (such as ink wells and other household items) decorated with animals as well as models of buildings and Totem poles; some very large and colored (an example of one was some 35 feet long). He achieved an international reputation in the 1930’s which continued into the 1960’s; sending carvings around North America and Europe. He carved ‘in the round’ and often in a single piece of wood. Wood from trees that he harvested himself.
An example of Abe Patterson’s work. An ink-well with a carved Sheep:
Abe Patterson. Pembroke, Ont. 1899-1969. Ink well with a carved Big Horn Sheep. Signed. 1930’s.
He was followed in his art by his son Pat Patterson also of Pembroke, Ontario.
Exerpt from “History of The Corporation of Westmeath Township” (1984) by Evelyn Moore Price:
“A student who had his roots in Westmeath township and attended S.S. No. 9, Westmeath, was Abe Patterson, who went forward to become internationally famous as Pembroke’s wood carver. Born in this section of Greenwood, he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. David Patterson After moving to Pembroke, this native son of Greenwood worked at his hobby of wood carving during the summer months at the rockcut at Meath near the bridge, made when Highway 17 was reconstructed and rerouted at Meath to avoid the excessively steep grade on the old road from Meath station. Many tourists seeing him working there near his small parked truck, would stop to converse -observe – or purchase.”
C. Dubeau. Sculptor. Woodcarver. St. Jovite, Quebec. Active early to mid 20th century.
Dubeau made painted relief carvings and they were usually outdoor-sport related. Hunting and fishing, in particular, were his favorite themes. His work was often to be found in the cottages and hunting lodges of the Laurentian mountains north of Montreal. His carvings were strong and very well painted in ‘as found’ colours. The relief work that I have seen by him date from the 1920’s and 1930’s and were in the 18 x 20 inch range in size.
C. Dubeau. A painted relief carving of a hunter with a canoe on landing on shore behind him. There is a Black Bear approaching through the trees:
C. Dubeau. Relief Carving. St. Jovite, Quebec.
His mark:
C. Dubeau. Saint-Jovite.His Mark.
Armand Guilbeault. Sculptor. Painter. Hudson, Quebec. Active 1960’s.
Armand Guilbeault. Shown below is a signed applied relief carving of Hunters on Horseback and a pack of Dogs. It is made of plywood and painted with ‘as found’ colors. It dates from aboit 1960.
Armand Guilbeault. Applied relief Carving:
Armand Guilbeault. Applied relief carving of Hunters and dogs. 1960.
Detail showing his Mark:
Armand Guilbeault. Detail of Mark.
Label on the reverse:
Armand Guilbeault. Label.
Hermenegilde Vigneault. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Natashquan, Quebec. Active late 20th century.
Hermenegilde Vignault lives in a small village on Quebec’s Lower North Shore. A cousin of the singer Gilles Vignault, M. Vignault carves and paints the birds and animals of the Lower North Shore region. The village lies East of Sept-Isles; it is about as far east as the road goes on that shore. (Quebec’s Highway 138 ends at Kegashka a few miles East.) He usually signs and dates his carvings and has been working since the late 1980’s.
Hermenegilde Vigneault is also a fiddler and has recorded a CD called “Les reels du sculpteur”. (‘The reels of the sculptor’.)
