As part of the Ontario and Canada 150th Anniversary celebrations, Boisés Est and Le Chenail Cultural Centre are organizing a painting exhibition entitled “The People’s Forest” to illustrate the role played by forests in the development and culture of Eastern Ontario’s population.

Theme

Local artists are invited to illustrate the ever-evolving relationship that exists between humans and the forest: forest and economy (traditional and modern industries and crafts); forest and history (e.g., land occupation led by the forest industry); forest and traditions (e.g., maple syrup, etc.), forest and health (physical/mental forest and biodiversity), forest and spirituality, forest and imagination, forest and our heritage (e.g., First Nations’ heritage), etc. Given that the exhibition aims to stress forest-people interactions, all works must include a human element.

Selection Criteria

For possible selection, artists must reside within Boisés Est’s jurisdiction: Highway 416 to the West, the St-Lawrence river to the South, the Quebec border to the East, and the Ottawa river to the North.

The selection committee will favour those projects that best match the theme. It will also try to create a set of complementary pieces that best represents the diversity of interactions between people and the forest.

Each participating artist will receive a free 40-inch by 30-inch canvas.

Interested participants must register with Le Chenail Cultural Centre before 4 p.m. on May 31, 2017. They will be expected to indicate which aspect of the theme they plan to cover, with a sketch to illustrate it.

The final list of participants will be released by 30 June 2017.

All participating artists will submit their completed project to Le Chenail by 4 p.m. on August 18, 2017. By participating in the exhibition, they authorize Le Chenail Cultural Centre and Boisés Est to reproduce their work in a colour catalogue that will be printed for the exhibition, and will specify the artists’ names and painting titles.

All the paintings will remain on display throughout the exhibition at Le Chenail Cultural Centre from September 7 to October 1, 2017. An official presentation will be held on Wednesday, 27 September 2017, Canada’s National Tree Day.

For more information contact, Lynda Clouette-Mackay at 613-632- 9555/[email protected] or Jean-Claude Havard at 613-673- 3089/[email protected].