Those who bring culture to life, everywhere in Quebec | Art makes people happy in Plaisance

In this summer series, our journalists meet people and institutions that promote culture outside of major centers.

I have always loved the Petite-Nation, one of the most unknown and beautiful regions of Quebec. Originally from the Outaouais, I am obviously biased. But its decor, still clinging to a rural past that refuses to die, fills me with enchantment every time it presents itself to me.

It was therefore with great pleasure that I went to Plaisance (taking care to avoid Route 50, preferring the quieter 148) to discover a cultural site that deserves more attention: the Centre d’art populaire du Québec.

It was Pascale Galipeau, for whom folk art holds no secrets, who told me about this place inaugurated in August 2021. She especially told me about its founder, Olivier Favre, a man who has a real passion for “tinkerers”. He had long dreamed of creating a place dedicated to this art form that has the ability to make those who come to meet it happy.

Is it its sometimes naive side that preserves something close to childhood? Or the ingenuity of creators who master the art of diverting the function of objects? The fact remains that we often look at works of popular art with a smile plastered on our faces.

The Centre d’art populaire was built in the former presbytery of Plaisance. Olivier Favre and his partners have just set up a new section at the back of the building. On two floors, rooms show us the work of many artists such as René Dandurand, Benoit Desjardins, Rémi Dumas, Léon Ipperciel, Lionel Labbé, Cléophas Lachance, Raymond Leroux, Francine Noël, Georges Racicot, Michel Therrien, Alain Vachon and many others.

This summer, a room is dedicated to the art of quilting, roosters and hunting decoys. “People have a reductive conception of popular art,” says Olivier Favre. “However, the approach of these artists is that of true creators. It’s fascinating to see how they reuse objects and give them another role.”

The pataphysician Florent Veilleux

Once you have visited all the rooms, you will be invited to go down to the basement. And there, it will be total wonder. I assure you. This is where the works of Florent Veilleux are presented, this pataphysician who created, during his life, hundreds of automated pieces straight out of his unbridled imagination.

It was after reading my column, published on the occasion of the death of this unclassifiable creator, in January 2023, that Olivier Favre had the idea of ​​acquiring part of the artist’s collection.¹A meeting with family members took place and, thanks to an agreement, the sustainability of Florent Veilleux’s work is assured.

“Years before his death, Florent Veilleux had expressed his wish to see someone take charge of his work,” says Olivier Favre. “There, it’s done.”

As you enter the room dedicated to Florent Veilleux, a motion detection system activates the exhibits. I warn you: in a second, you will become a child again. As for the real children who will accompany you, it will be very difficult to hold them back.

This exhibition of Florent Veilleux’s works, which is worth the trip alone, is largely due to Michel Grenier, a technician who is the only one who knows all the secrets of the mechanisms of these works. In the company of Michel Therrien, an important partner in the project of the Centre d’art populaire (whose magnificent giant canoe can be seen in front of the centre), a staging was created.

For his part, Adrien Levasseur, Olivier Favre’s steadfast partner and another great fan of popular art, has designed a book-album on the life of Florent Veilleux. The book, offered at the center’s boutique, tells the story of his journey as an artist wonderfully well, from his career as a singer to the pataphysician of mechanical art that he became.

A dreamy businessman

Olivier Favre is well known in the Petite-Nation region. Originally from France and a proud Alsatian, he came to settle in Quebec by becoming one of the owners of Parc Oméga, located in Montebello. “I worked in the insurance industry all my life,” he says. “When I left that, I told myself that I wanted to do something that I knew absolutely nothing about.”

Let’s just say he was served. The Quebec scenery, the deer and the wolves, it changes a life. When he arrived in 1996, the number of visitors to Parc Oméga (of which he would become the sole owner in 2001) was around 40,000. When he sold the company in 2019, that number had risen to 400,000.

After the park was sold, the octogenarian was still hungry for new projects. That’s how he decided to create a center dedicated to popular art. “I had the idea of ​​doing this initially in the Omega Park,” he says. So he bought the old presbytery in Plaisance and renovated it with a personal investment of $1 million.

He also bought a building across from the art center, which is now a restaurant specializing in crepes and waffles. “I want to breathe new life into the village,” says Olivier Favre. “Since Route 50 has been built, people are less likely to stop by our place. It’s important to bring life to small towns.”

There is no doubt that with the Centre d’art populaire du Québec, Olivier Favre, Adrien Levasseur and Michel Therrien are helping to give Plaisance and the surrounding municipalities a way to stand out. Waking up a small community that had fallen asleep is another example of the power of art.

1. Read our column on Florent Veilleux

Visit the Popular Art Center website