Emily Southwood
Two Havelock artists are launching an artistic project called The Spring Wake Machine involving Haut St-Laurent residents.
With funding in part from the Council of Arts and Letters of Quebec and the MRC of Haut-St-Laurent, as well as support from the cities of St-Chrysostôme, Huntingdon, and Ormstown, artists Pascale Bourguignon and Paul Abraham are thrilled to be able to actualize their innovative project next spring and summer of 2018.
Once built, The Spring Wake Machine will be a large kinetic sculpture on wheels pulled by two draft horses, wherein the motion of the horses will trigger the animation of the elements composing the sculpture. The “machine” will then travel the region throughout June and August of 2018, sowing on its way joy, optimism, the pride of living in such a beautiful environment, and certainly a little dung. The municipalities will bring logistical and media support to the collaborative project.
In order to build the first stage of The Spring Wake Machine, the artists will be collecting donated obsolete equipment from barns, attics, cellars, garages and fields in the area. They are looking for everything from old gears, to belts, pulleys, transmission systems, racks, old bikes, small or large metal or wood wheels, and obsolete gardening tools. They are also acquiring old alarm clocks or mechanical clocks, old birdcages, and any pieces of metal, tubes, squares, angles, and plates, as well as unusable agricultural machinery.
As winter is fast approaching, the artists are hoping to collect as many items as possible before the snow makes it difficult. Pascale Bourguignon and Paul Abraham are two professional artists who have been based in Havelock for the last five years. Their work is regularly exhibited and recognized by their peers as well as CALQ and SODEC who regularly support their initiatives. The Spring Wake Machine is a participatory project, for which the artists are seeking the public’s help. In their words: “We need your participation to be able to wake up spring 2018!”
Pascale Bourguignon and Paul Abraham can be contacted at 450-247-2903 and at their studio at 802 Chemin de Covey Hill in Havelock.
