Laurence Marie Bilodeau

Région : 
Slave Nord
Collectivité : 
Yellowknife
Numero de téléphone 1: 

Histoire de l'artiste

When I paint, I focus more on how things feel, rather than how they look. I truly care about the emotions that art can evoke and I want to share positivity through my artwork. I try to raise awareness and open minds by expressing how love exists within everything we see and feel. I love to do that by mixing in some spiritual elements and ancient symbols into my imagery. I feel like the busy world of today needs more of this uplifting energy.

I meditate before making art in order to create from a place of surrender. Because of that, my experience with art is a very deep one. And if I can reach someone else and provide healing to others, it would be my greatest pleasure and the achievement of my goal. I also understand that art is very subjective: in art school, I learned that once you put your work out there, it’s not yours anymore. So there is intention in my creative process, but no fixed destination. It’s just another way to express myself, and another way for me to touch people.

My mother was an abstract artist, so I have been drawing for as long as I can remember. I started painting when I was about four years old and my mom exposed me to other mediums such as argyle, clay and wax. Today, my inspiration is linked to my own evolution through meditation, yoga, and reiki. The fact that my daughter is autistic has also pushed me to sensitize people to inclusion, light and love. I think it’s important to acknowledge our dark, broken or damaged parts, but I also believe that it’s even more important to focus on the light and the solutions that might arise from that perspective. I really believe that love can heal everything.

Sometimes, my kids want to create with me and I will share that experience with them, which requires letting go of control. The principle of perfection that we hold in our society can feel a bit sickening because we want things to be perfect all the time. However, if we look at nature, we see perfection and harmony and yet it is also imperfect. So if I create with my kids and we make a mistake, we just see it as an interesting incident and we go from there. It’s a different way of creating, which I truly appreciate.  My kids love to use art as entertainment, as a self-regulating tool, as a form of therapy as well as a communication method, and I love giving them the space they need to create without judgment. It opens the door to an unseen world that is even more beautiful than the one we are used to!

Biographie de l'artiste: 

Laurence has been living and working in Yellowknife for the past ten years.  She was born in Ottawa, spent her early childhood in Cameroon, continued to grew up in Québec and resided in Ottawa before moving up North.  Laurence is raising two children, aged 6 and 8. Laurence studied in Arts and Literature at the Laval University in Québec.  The positive impact art has had on her life and her children redirected her career goals. She approached art from a healing perspective and deeply believe in the uplifting and healing qualities of art, and I strive to align her work with this belief.She is also currently enrolled in a long-distance program with the Laval University to complete a degree in Social Science and Psychology. 

Laurence is a certified Reiki practitioner and has been initiated in the First and Second Degree / Reiki Level 1 and 2 of the Usui System of Natural Healing. Her long-term goal is to combine her passion for Art and Reiki and hopes to eventually run an healing centre, which would incorporate her passion for Reiki and art therapy, while offering an inclusive creative space to the community.

With the goal in mind to provide the northerners with an outlet of their own, she felt inspired to create an online store called Keep it Northern, and design print on demand items that would showcase her original art, and the photography of her husband, Stephen M. Fochuk. She participates in in-town craft sales, and enjoy being part of this vibrant community. 

 

Dernière mise à jour : 29 mai 2023

Galerie de l'artiste