New show explores the theme of change in life and Fine Arts Faculty

Thérèse Chabot, associate professor in Studio Arts, and Lynn Beavis, co-ordinator of the Faculty of Fine Arts Gallery, are at the opening of Hiver Rouge, Chabot’s show.

The show, which runs until Feb. 19, is in the window space on the ground floor of the EV building while the new FOFA gallery fronting Ste. Catherine St. is being finished.

Beavis hopes the new gallery will be open by early summer. Interior walls need to be installed and the floor must be lifted by 18 inches to bring it to the desired height. A system of grids also must be put in the ceiling to allow for lights and work to be suspended.

An outdoor sculpture garden is planned for a street-level nook just outside the gallery. Sculpture placed there will have to be sufficiently durable to be able to withstand our harsh climate.

Hiver Rouge includes flowers Chabot grows from seed. The flowers witness “the cycle of life and the rituals that accompany the seasons,” and her work is “about nature, my position as a woman and a feminist.”

It harmonizes with architecture of the long, narrow display windows in which it is shown. A video in the show looks at passages in a woman’s life and the search for “a voice that is melodious through these changes.”

The video also refers to the transformation undergone by the Faculty of Fine Arts in its move of several departments, including Photography, Print Media and Fibres, to the new Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex.

It touches on “the excitement of the promise of the new,” along with “mourning for the ones left behind.”