Paul Perron. Sculptor. Saint-Marc-des-Carrieres, Quebec. Active mid 20th century – 1980’s.

Paul Perron was a self taught sculptor in limestone. He was a quarry worker in limestone and discovered an ability to sculpt in the medium. He went from working on dressing the stone to carving busts of people and small animals. Both his father and grandfather were carvers. He signed his work.

Ref: Jean Simard, Pour Passer Le Temps: Artistes Populaires Du Quebec, Gouvernement du Quebec, Ministere des Affaires Culturelles. 1985.

Roger Ouellet. Sculptor. Charlevoix, Quebec. Active 1960’s – .

Self-taught in every respect, Roger Ouellet was a ‘patenteux’* who decorated his home, his yard and his life with his creations. He sculpted in cement, stone, plaster, metal, plastic, glass and paint. He made a bread oven in his yard in the shape of a Moose (using ‘as found’ real antlers and concrete). He carved a marquetry ceiling in his kitchen out of small wooden squares. His home and yard was his ‘canvas’ and his available ‘materials’ were never ending. He carved anything carvable  from tree trunks to pine cones. He never signed his works.

* A ‘patenteux’ is someone who makes ‘thingamajigs’.

Ref: Jean Simard, Pour Passer Le Temps: Artistes Populaires Du Quebec, Gouvernement du Quebec, Ministere des Affaires Culturelles. 1985.

Eleuthere Nadeau. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Saint-Eleuthere, Cte Kamouraska, Quebec. Active 1960’s – .

Eleuthere Nadeau carved small animals in the round as well as making carvings in bottles; miniature calvaires (Calvary), chairs etc. A popular souvenir in Quebec in the last century. He also was known for making canes and walking sticks using “le verges de Boueuf” – a Bull’s penis. (An unusual craft.) Using ‘as found’ materials – from clothes-pins to corn cobs (hand made tobacco Pipes) and a minimum of tools Eleuthere Nadeau made a variety of creations most of which brought him attention – visitors and spare money.

Ref: Jean Simard, Pour Passer Le Temps: Artistes Populaires Du Quebec, Gouvernement du Quebec, Ministere des Affaires Culturelles. 1985.

Yevette Mongrain. Sculptor. Saint-Stanislaus, Cte Champlain, Quebec. Active 1970 – .

Yvette Mongrain was a maker of ‘odd things’ or “des ‘bebelles’ ” to use a lovely French word. Using a variety of ‘as found’ materials she made structures for her yard. Things that turned in the wind or just looked interesting. Everything brightly painted. She entertained herself and the people passing by her yard. Lessard, in his book* used the term: ‘heteroclitic objects’; an archaic but delightful term never the less. She removed them from the yard and stored them inside in winter time. Yvette Mongrain used available ‘as found’ materials in her works; from soap containers to old lanterns. Yvette Mongrain was a maker of abstract art.

*Ref: Jean Simard, Pour Passer Le Temps: Artistes Populaires Du Quebec, Gouvernement du Quebec, Ministere des Affaires Culturelles. 1985.

Eugene Mathieu. Sculptor. Model maker. Ascot Corner, Quebec. (L’Estrie) Active  late 1960’s – .

Eugene Mathieu began to create after an illness in the late 1960’s initially making small models of Windmills, Lighthouses and so on. Then he negan his master work. Between 1968 and 1976 he built a model of a village in his yard. He built models of houses in Ascot-Corners as well as buildings from other towns in the area. There was the Church, the Manse, General Store and school.  Also in the ‘village’ were animals, wagons and a ‘Grotte’ (Shrine). All to scale and finely detailed and painted. His village had electricity as well and seemed to have a life of it’s own. A typical house was a little less than a metre square. They were roofed in tin or  asphalt shingles, electrified, had windows and floored interiors and were fully furnished. The village consisted of about 25 buildings. It was a tour de force.

Ref: Jean Simard, Pour Passer Le Temps: Artistes Populaires Du Quebec, Gouvernement du Quebec, Ministere des Affaires Culturelles. 1985.