The Illustration
The illustration used as the background in this exhibit was painted by André Michel and Denis Larouche. Monsieur Michel, an artist from Mont St-Hillaire shares with us his memories of stays among the Montagnais of the North Shore of the St. Lawrence while Monsieur Larouche, of the Canadian Museum of Civilization created the wonderful overcast sky.
The ceramic containers are presented as works of art, but it is nonetheless important to remember that these containers witnessed very human moments that we all still experience in our everyday lives. The illustration is not contrived or imaginary, but rather, it is of modern people in real situations. It reminds us of the human context within which the pots were used.
Even if the Montagnais in the past were not makers of pottery and only occasionally used pots obtained through trade, the spirit of the moment shown in this scene is independent of the raw material of the containers in which food was prepared, be that ceramic or bark in the past, or metal like the one shown by André Michel.
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