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Drawing from her past

Fine Arts alumna Valerie Gilbert’s distinctive style helped her earn a fellowship at the prestigious New York Academy of Art
September 14, 2017
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By Lucas Napier-Macdonald


Artist Valerie Gilbert, BFA 13, draws much of her inspiration from the communal lore her Québécois grandfather passed along to her as a child.

It is on display, for instance, in her piece La Chasse-galerie (The bewitched canoe), which shows Gilbert barefoot in a wooden boat. It’s an allusion to the well-known legend of eight coureurs des bois who, on New Year’s Eve, make a deal with the devil to transport their canoe to a sweetheart’s house and back over the frozen Gatineau River.

Valerie Gilbert Valerie Gilbert describes her artwork as “contemporary realist,” created in a realistic style using traditional techniques.

“The way I perceive things and issues is rooted in my French-Canadian background,” Gilbert says.

“When I travel around the world, especially in the U.S., where I’ve been living for three years, for everything I encounter I react according to those cultural roots.”

In Gilbert’s reinterpretation of the myth, she is leaving the shores of Quebec for the United States, the stars of its flag twinkling in the distance.

The image reflects her real-life trip south to the prestigious New York Academy of Art, founded in 1982 in New York City by supporters of the arts, including Andy Warhol.

The drawing also offers a commentary on Gilbert’s race. Unlike the grandfather whispering stories to her, the artist was adopted into a French-Canadian family from Haiti when she was three. She says her family never made her feel like an “other,” yet she became aware of it when she left her home for the United States.

“When it comes to family, race as an issue was nonexistent,” Gilbert says. “It was only an issue when I stepped out of my family into society — in Quebec and Canada, of course — but even more so when I went to the U.S, where race is such a big issue.”

Blending old and new

Gilbert is currently in her third year at the academy. In 2016 she received a Chubb Postgraduate Fellowship, allowing her to remain beyond the two years of her degree as a teaching assistant with complimentary studio space.

Gilbert’s La Chasse-galerie Valerie Gilbert’s La Chasse-galerie, an example of the artwork inspired by her cultural heritage.

Two years ago, Gilbert travelled to Germany as part of the academy’s Leipzig Residency.

Hosted by the Leipzig International Art Programme in the German city, the residency gives students sprawling studio spaces and galleries to display their work. It’s all located in the Spinnerei, a communist-era cotton mill that became a cultural centre following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

“Valerie was one of the top-performing students in her class,” says Peter Drake, dean of academic affairs at the New York Academy of Art. While he says that his school offers residencies worldwide, students consider the one at Leipzig the most prestigious.

He adds that Gilbert’s work exhibits a subtle, uncanny quality that sweeps the viewer up in its atmosphere. He believes her art could affect the popular perception of drawing merely as a gateway to flashier forms of art.

“Valerie could definitely reinvigorate people’s belief in drawing as a primary creative medium,” says Drake. “So many people see drawing as secondary, or something that leads to painting or another art form. Her focus is on drawing, and I can see her changing attitudes on it because of the quality of her work.”

Gilbert describes her artwork as “contemporary realist,” art created in a realistic manner using traditional techniques to illustrate the observed world. Gilbert discovered the form at Concordia, thanks in large part to Department of Studio Arts painting and drawing instructor Susan J. Scott.

“Susan made me see a whole new possibility of what arts have to offer, how you can actually look at what was done before, and really take into consideration the greatness of people who devoted their entire lives to it,” Gilbert says.

“It’s about using the old to create something new, and having the humility to say there are other people who came before me, who’ve had experiences and developed knowledge.”

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