A feeling of fullness invades Eve-Marie Laliberté when she takes the spiral staircase to descend into the basement of her duplex, transformed into an art ceramics workshop.
“I feel whole there,” confides this prolific Montreal artist in the middle of her studio filled to the brim with tools, devices and materials of all kinds. “This workshop stimulates me while allowing me to relax. Here, I am able to channel the excess energy that consumes me every day. »
An artistic effervescence indeed floats in this old accommodation, annexed at the time to a storage space. Molds, glazes and clay blocks clog the shelves, just a few steps away from two powerful kilns. An old workbench dating from 1950, stained and scratched, bears witness to its intensive use.
Further on, the traces of earth at the bottom of the tanks and sinks recall the repetitive and creative gestures of the ceramist.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Some creations by the ceramic artist Eve-Marie Laliberté
In a second room, a display of colorful planters, small original table lamps and fine tableware sits alongside a prototype pendant light. “I have never been able to confine myself to doing just one thing,” laughs this artist, cited last year for the François-Houdé prize from the City of Montreal.
The rest of the space is occupied by the computer, a large bookcase, a large table on casters, a work surface for packaging and various displays for artisan markets.
As his look
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The space is multifunctional, like the artist.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Mussels clog the shelves.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Some tools ready to use.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Everything has its place !
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Two powerful ovens
1/5
To manage to combine her immediate desires, this “self-confident hyperactive” had to optimize this ultimately limited space. Not only to satisfy your need to “do everything at once”, but also to avoid losing concentration.
I’ve been told before that I need instant gratification. I think fast, I move fast and I need results fast. My ADHD also doesn’t allow me to be messy, otherwise I’m easily distracted. So I created a multifunctional space in my image.
Eve-Marie Laliberté
Behind the appearance of a workshop hides a classroom, a packaging line, a photo studio, an administrative office, a library… or even a guest room. “The painting conceals a wall bed,” slips the artist who designed most of his furniture, tables and workbenches with multiple functions. “I enlarged from the inside. »
A large part of the furniture also comes from the family or from second-hand sales. Here and there, an old chest of drawers, an old coffee table and an old-fashioned filing cabinet form an elegant, eclectic and functional decor. An old aunt’s sturdy chest thus became a humid chamber to preserve the pieces before cooking.
“I like the warmth of old things. They have history,” confides the woman for whom this workshop is the culmination of a personal journey.
Choose your path
A trained graphic designer, Eve-Marie Laliberté discovered the art of ceramics through a leisure activity. “The minute I put my hands in the dirt, I felt like I had found my calling. It went ‘wow’ in my head,” she recalls.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Initially a hobby, ceramics became a true passion for Eve-Marie Laliberté.
When I design an image on the computer, the screen and the mouse interfere with what I want to do. When I have my hands in the ground, I directly build what my inspiration pushes me to create.
Eve-Marie Laliberté
However, a slight push from destiny was necessary for him to satisfy his passion. At 43, while preparing to launch a graphic communications company with a friend, she realized that she was going on the wrong path. “I realized that we didn’t want the same thing, him and I. It forced me to ask myself what I wanted. And the answer was ceramics,” she says.
Unsurprisingly, Mme Laliberté had already created a small workshop in his house. “I have always needed a creative corner, whether in my childhood bedroom or later in my apartments. When I moved here, I immediately thought that this space would make a nice little workshop. »
Over time, the said workshop became the true creative studio that it is today. It also allowed us to make peace, little by little, with a painful memory.
“When my parents separated during my childhood, I lived with my mother and my sister in a small basement apartment in Longueuil. These were difficult years. I swore to myself that I would never live in a basement again,” she confides with emotion.
“Today, I understand that the room is not important for what it is,” she adds in front of a series of photos hanging on the wall, recalling happy moments: her godson, a scout camp at 16 years, his marriage, a kayaking excursion in Vancouver, a drawing made as a teenager…
“A room is important for what we do with it,” she concludes. I don’t own any luxury items in this workshop, but I’m spoiled rotten. For me, this is the Ritz. »