Marianne Chénard

My current art practice articulates itself around a site-specific approach to installation art which evokes the human perceptual relationship with nature and makes plain an attentiveness to the agency of the natural environment. 

Ceramic embodies water, earth, fire, and air in each of its transforming stages. I explore these aspects separately, giving them time and space to act; to later observe the relationships which manifest between elements. I use natural materials that are either exploited or modified by humans, such as kaolin, beeswax, salt, and wood. The additive process of foreign material to a natural environment demands the need for balance and respect for the ecosystem. My actions question the relations between the non-human and the human, bringing forward the metaphor of the cycle, a sensibility to the issues of climate change, and to the pursuit of global environmental sustainability. 

My artwork is materialized through performance, video, print, earth art, sound, and installation. My performance in the creation of the work uses gestures and analogy of drawing. I create lines that function as a cut into space. By erasing the horizon, working close to the ground, or taking my body out of the composition, a dislocation happens. The sense of place is taken away, leaving a blank stage for the matter and the natural elements to act. I am interested in the ways marks disappear and how time perception varies from the tide to the fast flame of burning wood, to the slow melting of ice. 

Through my research, I explore gestures, natural elements, and matters that intra-define one another. My artwork attempts to dissolve boundaries accentuating the generative and resilience of the material forms with which social actors interact. I seek the relationship between the perceiver and the perceived to create a moment where natural elements and human experience are intertwined, where responsibility and attachment coexist, and where embody entails disappearance.

Marianne’s art practice articulates itself around a site-specific approach to installation art that attempts to illustrate the human perceptual relationship with nature while exhibiting attentiveness to the natural environment agency. It questions a notion of responsibility or entanglement, permanence or ephemerality, perception or realism, and is sensitive to the issues of climate change and the pursuit of global environmental sustainability. Her artwork is materialized through performance, video, earth art,  sounds, and installations. Originally from Rimouski, Qc Canada, Marianne’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in Québec, Canada, and France. She has taken part in several artist residencies and frequently offers specialized training in image transfer techniques on clay. She holds a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver and an MFA at New York College of Ceramics at Alfred University NY, USA.