Marie-Andrée Côté’s works are also comprised thousands of individual components, arranged artfully, thoughtfully, most within strong and large but unobtrusive round frames. In fact, 12 of the 13 pieces Côté created for this show are arranged within circles. « Drawing on the «rosette» theme, I explored the tondo form to create large cicular works with relief, curves and spirals. I am intrigued by nature-inspired shapes and motifs, within the confines of a circle », Marie-Andrée Côté.
One such work, Point de rencontre/Barcelona literally inspired by a piece of architecture, draws on and incorporates a broken ceramic tile the artist brought back with her from a trip to Barcelona that features an elegant leaf motif. Replicating the leaf shape in thin, shortbread-like porcelain wafers, Côté play stacks, repeat pattern, random orientation and other graphic tricks all within the other,each with a redwood stained backing.
Her method of forming and finishing her thicker, unglazed, porcelain elements is compelling to the point of a visceral urge to caress them. Imagine bars of white soap or fine marble, cut into intriguing shapes and worn over time until either centres are depressed and edges are softened as in « Rivière/ comme un murmure» where the overall effect of hundreds of loosely angular chunks, fixed in an oblong, flow-pattern to a black background does impressive justice to Côté’s nearby photograph of light, penetrating the rippled surface of water. In other pieces, the edges are worn away to the point of all cross-section’ becoming elliptical as in Eau Douce where myriad botany-inspired critters, symbolic of microscopic or macroscopic life forms dangle separately on filaments. They appear as if suspended, in concentrated proximity in a giant, imaginary, lense-like drop of nearly still water.The strong, natural , back-lighting in the tall Tower Gallery during the day, brings this illusion to life. Here and there,deep-red, lead fishing sinkers add to the beauty of the creatures’ environment, on one hand, while acting as warning beacons on the other.
« My motivation is to put the beauty, fragility and vulnerability of the planet world into perspective; to create atmospheres that challenge us to think about the cycle of life and the environmental damage that threatens our planet. » Marie-Andrée Côté

Exquisite Woods, Review by Judy Donaldson, FUSION Magazine, Volume 39 Number 2

Pour me joindre: marieandreecote@mac.com