Martin C. Barry
Splendid summer weather with lots of sun and just a few drops of rain provided many Laval residents as well as visiting vacationers with the opportunity to appreciate and purchase some of eastern Canada’s finest paintings and sculptures during the 23rd annual Symposium de Ste-Rose.
Held from July 26 to 29 in Laval’s historic and picturesque Vieux Sainte-Rose neighbourhood, more than 20,000 people were on hand over four days to view the creations of 90 artists from Laval and many other regions, while also purchasing hundreds of art works.
Quebec singer is an artist
For this year’s symposium, the Corporation Rose-Art had the endorsement of renowned Québec pop singer Shirley Théroux, who was the symposium’s official spokesperson. “We were very fortunate to have Mme Théroux with us this year,” said Carole Faucher, president of the Corporation Rose-Art which sponsors the event.
For Théroux, who is an accomplished painter as well as a recording artist, the symposium was an opportunity to exhibit some of her own art works.
It was a new opportunity
“This is the first time I’ve been able to show some of my work within an art symposium,” she said in an interview with the Laval News. “This is absolutely marvellous because they are discovering me now as a painter.”
Théroux did not rule out the possibility of taking part in next year’s Symposium de Ste-Rose. “If I am invited it would be a pleasure to come back,” she said.
Among the participating artists was Laval painter Claire Gauthier, who exhibits her art in various other shows and symposiums in Quebec throughout the year.
Ste-Rose Symposium’s ‘the best’
“I do a lot of symposiums and this one in Sainte-Rose is the best,” she said. “It’s the largest in the region, it offers a large choice of artists and many people come to visit.” According to Gauthier, the Symposium de Ste-Rose is the art exposition where she succeeds the most in selling her works.
Another painter, Diane Lafond of Laval, agreed that the Symposium de Ste-Rose is a first-class venue for painters and sculptors to exhibit their art. “Many of the people who drop by are on vacation and often they’re looking to purchase gifts for loved ones back home,” said Lafond, who has also exhibited her work in some very picturesque surroundings such as Kamouraska east of Quebec City.
Artists from all over
While most of the artists and sculptors whose works were featured in the show were from the Laval region, some came from more distant reaches of Quebec such as Trois-Rivières, the Eastern Townships, the Laurentians, Matagami, Rimouski, Rivière-du-Loup and Quebec City. One was from Riley Brook in New Brunswick.
The artist who probably travelled the furthest to take part was Stéfanie Thompson. She made a very long and arduous journey by road from Matagami in northwestern Quebec to Laval. A native of Laval’s Fabreville district, she moved with her partner to Matagami seven years ago and isn’t planning on returning south any time soon.
