art in nature

Repères
[Markers]
2001 - 2002

What do people from Nicolet, St-Adrien-de-Ham, Victoriaville and Ste-Clotilde have in common? For one thing, the water that flows near their homes, dragging with it the same history…

Streams have always been very important to the exploration and development of our land. Native Americans had settlements on their banks before the Europeans came by way of the estuary. The settling of the land began at the St. Lawrence River, and then spread along its tributaries, following the trail of agriculture or forestry, and the subsequent development of services, mills and industries. Those water routes, the blood system of the country, navigable in summer, frozen shut in winter, are now full of the memories of their forgotten purpose and meaning. They still pass by our towns and villages, in near-total indifference. And yet, legends still live on and we all have memories or concerns tied to the river that runs through our life. Because water is the symbol of life and the canvas of our dreams… it doesn’t just tie us to the land, but also to time.

One of the functions of an artwork is to communicate, through time, a sense of who we are and what concerns us. The people who live close to the Nicolet River were invited to feed Dominique Laquerre by sharing information with her: poetic visions, ecological concerns, happy memories, tragedies, legends, music, photographs, artifacts, and so on. Over 25 people answered her call. Excerpts from this information raising are available on the website www.oculiartes.org. The answers she received were used as raw material in the creation of four permanent artworks titled Repères – or markers – and set at four different locations along the stream, from its source all the way to the St. Lawrence River. These four markers were unveiled with the collaboration of the communities involved at the end of the summer of 2002. The markers and their accessibility to visitors are preserved thanks to agreements with the municipalities or the private owners of the river banks.

Each marker is made of the local rock, granite, on which words have been carved. The gathered testimonies and documents, even music inspired by the river, were recorded on compact discs. These discs were inserted in capsules secured in the rock of the sculptures and left in time’s care.

The four markers along the Nicolet, from its source to the St. Lawrence, are:

Saints-Martyrs Canadiens
Near Lake Nicolet’s Town Pier, the source of the Nicolet River, this marker consists in half a stream pebble cut in half, carved and set with a granite capsule containing a CD. One can see the marker in the shallow waters on the right side of the pier.

WHO KNOWS WHERE IS BORN THE RIVER
RUNNING CLOSE TO OUR HOMES?
HOW IS IT AT ITS SOURCE
THROUGH WHAT DOES IT GO
TO BE TRANSFORMED LIKE SO? 

The source of the river provides an occasion to bring up concepts like purity and the origins. With the testimonies of Martine Desloges, Réjean Houle and Marie-France Beaudoin. The Summer 2002 test results of the river’s waters are also noted.

Notre-Dame de Ham
The markers are located in natural cauldrons near the paths of the Corporation de gestion des rivières des Bois-Francs. The CD has been inserted directly into the schistic riverbed.

INNER WORK
SURFACE-DEPTH
CLEAR-TROUBLED
EMERGE-DIVE
ABSORB-REFLECT

In relation to “inner work,” the Notre-Dame de Ham markers evoke the power of water as a tool of psychic transformation. Widening and deepening as the free-moving pebble roams around and wears out, the cauldrons draw similarities with the inner workings of the soul. With the testimonies of Isabelle Massey, Jean-Luc Lavigne, Rosario Bégin and Guy Hudon.

Sainte-Clotilde de Horton
The markers are located on the two right-of-ways of the iron bridge that used to stand at the heart of the village, until it was demolished in 1958. Facing the village, on the right-of-way’s ruins, an iron wheel suggests the numerous windmills that populated the path of the Nicolet. On the other right-of-way, a carved block of granite holds a compact disc.

WATER REMEMBERS
QUENCHING, WASHING
CARRYING THE ROWBOAT
AND MAKING THE WHEEL TURN 

This marker is dedicated to the various uses of water, uses responsible for the very development of the villages in the area. Consisting of two elements, it symbolically reunites the two halves of a bridge whose construction split the local community for over forty years.

The CD contains the testimonies of Colombe Sweeney and Pierre Lacerte, David Aucoin, Paul-Émile Pellerin, Marie-Aimée Côté and Guy Hudon.

Nicolet
Located near the point where the river enters the St. Lawrence River, this marker completes the pebble found at the Nicolet’s source. On the property of the painter Rodolphe Duguay (1891-1973), the marker is carved and resting on a metal base, looking out to the river and the location of the old downtown district, wiped off by a landslide in 1955.

THE RUMOUR PERSISTS
PAST POETS AND ARTISTS
LIKE SUNKEN CITIES

The Nicolet marker is dedicated to the city’s rich and eventful history. It highlights the fact that water has been an endless source of inspiration for the numerous artists and poets who have taken part to the project. The CD contains works by Rodolphe Duguay and his life partner Jeanne L’Archevêque, brought in by their daughter Monique. There are also contributions from Jeanne and Georges Laquerre, and Rita Dolan Caron, plus poems, photographs and music by Jean Chatillon, Marthe Dubé, Jean-Luc Lavigne, Ambroise Houle and Rosario Bégin.

The markers are subtle interventions at the heart of a vast landscape. Since the people are aware of its process, the work will continue to exist. It will continue to evolve on the immersed level of memory, legend and history. What will those who pull it out of the water in 20 or 100 years from now do with it? Will the information they contain serve to read the past or to understand the present?

Translated by François Couture