April 29
Wood Sculpture Workshop

Mr. Marquis gives detailed explanations of his sculptures.		The idea is to bring a piece of wood to life....

          If you want to see marvellous things, you should have been with us on Thursday, April 29th: you wouldn’t have believed your eyes!  Mr. Marquis, from the village of Saint-Charles-de-Bellechasse, favoured our Primary students in grades 5 and 6 with a visit and, with very precious explanations, shared with them his artistic passion: sculpting birds, especially ducks, in wood.  Now don’t go imagining simple pieces of wood with a vague resemblance to birds!  No, one must touch them to be able to believe that they really are sculpted and engraved wood!  A butcher by profession, our artist started sculpting towards the age of 65.  Simple amateur in the beginning, he has since participated in professional contests where he has placed 1st of 400.  Now 87 years old, he is working on his 90th duck, and had accomplished many other works of art: furniture, diverse birds, owls, as well as a splendid snow owl...  All of these sculptures are the result of numerous hours of patience and Mr. Marquis does them “just for the pleasure of it”, and also to transmit his passion, his art, in the hopes that one of these students; at least one!, will be in turn impassioned by sculpture, and create in his turn even more artistic works.  Let’s hope that his enthusiasm was communicated!  And so ... to your pocketknives, students of 5-6, and maybe, who knows? You will one day manage to bring a piece of dried wood to life!  Courage, artists!

...and you can make marvels happen!		Who would have thought it was a piece of carved and engraved wood?