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Le portage
1992
Dominique Valade

Dominique Valade holds a master’s degree in visual arts and a doctorate in art studies and practices from the Université du Québec à Montréal. She has participated in a number of large-scale public events, including City Shapes, at the Vancouver World Fair in 1986, and the Symposium de la jeune peinture au Canada, at the Centre d’art de Baie-Saint-Paul in 1987. Valade is known for her painting and sculpture practices, and her artworks are in the collections of the Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent, the Musée des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke, the Galerie de l’UQAM, and the Edmonton Art Gallery.

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Details
Category
Installation
Acquisition mode
Transfer
Materials
brick, granite, pigment, plants, steel
Overall size
265 x 260 x 800 cm
Technique(s)
bolted, carved, engraved, glued, sculpted
External link
Location
Location
Location
Parc Summerlea

Artwork description

Situated in Parc Summerlea, the artwork reflects the seaway that it sits beside. It is composed of four pillars, aligned two by two, that support two arcades. In the stone on the outside face of each column, a leg has been sculpted in bas-relief; on the inside face of each column are carved various animal figures (beaver, hare, deer, bear, bird’s wing). On flagstones on the ground appear silhouettes of fish. In the distance, beside the river, is placed a half-moon-shaped bench made of bricks and cut stone.

The title refers to the obstacles encountered by the voyageurs ascending the river toward the Great Lakes to start up the fur trade, who had to portage to get around the Lachine Rapids. Valade’s work commemorates this forced stop, at which the men lifted their canoes and cargo onto their backs to walk along the portage path. The four pillars evoke the mass and strength of the bodies carrying the canoes. The arcs that rest on the pillars evoke the structure of a large canoe. Viewers who stand between the pillars, their backs to the river, will recognize the bow of the boat turned to make it easier to pull it out of the water.