In her workshop in Montérégie, the artisan of Franco-Guadeloupean origin Marie-José Gustave interweaves paper threads to give substance to works where we can trace her family lineage. A series of shapes that evoke the sea and that make up the fabric of its mixed existence, to be discovered in the traveling exhibition Of thread and paper, which will stop in Saint-Laurent next September.
A unique construction houses Marie-José Gustave’s workshop in the garden of her house in Longueuil. The roof, radically inclined towards the front, celebrates the paper dear to the artist and his partner, Gérald Parent, architect and sculptor at the origin of this confidential creative space. Here, she allows herself all the formal explorations from a thread with precious qualities, that is to say both flexible and rigid, when it is worked on purpose. Modeling the material according to her desires while welcoming with consideration the work that is offered to her.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The workshop at the bottom of Marie-José Gustave’s garden features shapes inspired by paper work.
White creations, like the foam that curls the water on Caribbean beaches, have just been hung on the wooden walls. They returned from Quebec where Marie-José presented them at the Center Materia as part of the exhibition Of thread and paper, which has been traveling across the country since the fall and which will have its epilogue at the Musée des métiers d’art du Québec (MUMAQ), in Saint-Laurent, from September 4 to October 27. The artisan invited eight other women from Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia to join her for this project highlighting a paper underlying an artistic approach and an engaging cultural statement.
Over time
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The craftswoman uses basketry to give volume to her works.
The story of this Quebecer from France is as complex as the works she creates with infinite patience in the calm of her workshop, one stitch at a time. Born in Paris to Guadeloupean parents, she trained in clothing production there, then she moved to Quebec, discovered on her honeymoon, where the vagaries of life led her to follow the path dictated by her instinct. : working with paper and cardboard initially, to design utilitarian and decorative objects.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Marie-José Gustave sculpts paper and reconnects with her Guadeloupean roots in the same gesture.
Thanks to a weaving workshop in Montreal, she appropriates paper thread and reconnects with the ancestral techniques of crochet and knitting that her mother taught her as a child.
“These textile practices were part of the integration process that she had experienced in France. These meetings allowed her to create a link with the society that welcomed her at the age of 22, in the 1960s. Transmission is important in my practice,” emphasizes M.me Gustave who, in turn, works to share his know-how and his multicultural heritage with his adopted community.
Filigree
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The work in paper wire and porcelain rings Corals accompanies the traveling exhibition Of thread and paper.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Explorations of shapes in knitting and basketry.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Elements brought back from the West Indies or shaped in his workshop, such as ceramics or papier-mâché, nourish his inspiration.
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The collective exhibition Of thread and paper is part of a larger and personal project entitled From one territory to another. She reveals the importance of the marine world in her family lineage. “My parents reached France by boat. At the time, when the West Indians left Guadeloupe, it was a bit of a lifeline to survive,” she says.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The craftswoman has a sensitive relationship with her works.
Under her fingers, it is not these images that decide the forms that emerge from her art, but the material with which she maintains a sensitive relationship.
The sculptural installation Corals was thus born from basketwork with a mesh punctuated by porcelain rings.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
An infinite number of cells of crocheted paper thread form The foam.
Through her ballets of graceful gestures, Marie-José Gustave cultivates a meditative approach. “The thread symbolizes flexibility. It curves, it adapts to the movement of the hands, but it retains its intrinsic qualities. A bit like when you arrive in a new country with another culture where you have to find a way to coexist with who you are and local habits and customs,” explains the woman who constantly navigates between several cultures.
It was in Quebec that she chose to anchor her destiny, 25 years ago. She willingly exchanges the impressions gleaned throughout her journey with those from elsewhere and overcome by existential doubts. “All experiences of relationships with others and their differences enrich us,” says the woman who is preparing to join, at the end of the summer, an artist residency as part of the Contextile biennial in Portugal.
Visit Marie-José Gustave’s website
Visit the MUMAQ website