Helene always loved to play with matter. At the age of 11, she discovered clay. At the age of 19, she was earning a living as a ceramist.
Like in any other discipline, an artist should master the medium in order to render a project. So she studied a few years in visual arts. But in those days, the teaching was already drifting towards concepts. As she couldn't find what she needed in institutions, she interupted her studies at the Laval University of Quebec and started to work as a portraitist. It was demanding but it was also the best way to learn how to master observation, drawing and color. She learned with acomplished professionals, just like in the old days.
After being a ceramist, then a portraitist, she founded her entreprise: Atelier Dufaux, specialized in "trompe-l'oeil". She tought the tecniques, she concieved large scale artworks, monumental murals and directed teams of artists. She was also sculpting.
Because compromise and artistic freedom don't coexist very well, she always kept appart from the established circuit and stayed true to her unbridled taste for creative exploration. She was recognized mostly for the direction of monumental murals in Quebec, Sherbrooke and Montreal.
Ceramics, portrait on command, the teaching of techniques of trompe-l'oeil, coordination and direction of great mural projects and bronze sculpture brought her to a vast knowing and mastering of a multiplicity of mediums.
All along her career, somehow she always new she would come back to clay, this sensual and lively, magical friend, her first love.
"My overview as a multidisciplinary artist had to bring me back to ceramics. Clay, which may be the most humble material, is also the one that gives the most possibilities. Wether it is a simple bowl or a fine transluscent porcelain, all forms, all textures are possible. But it's also the matter that offers the most surprises and humility lessons. You have to know and respect it. There are always new challenges. The exploration never ends"
Studies:
1986 Laval University, visual arts
2015 back to ceramics at the catalan art center of Tortosa
Exhibitions:
2006 Gallery 1225 in Montréal
2004 Gallery 1225 in Montréal
2003 Rouje in Québec city "Petites Métaphores"
1999 Palais Montcalm "Continuum Figuratif" (part two)
1998 Palais Montcalm: "Continuum Figuratif" (part 0ne)
1989 Anima G gallery, Québec
1988 Moss, Québec "Le Ciel des Peintures"
Galleries:
2006 paintings in Gallery Beauchamp in Québec city
2004 bronzes at Gallery 1225 in Montréal
2003-06 bronzes at Galerie Ars Vivesco in Québec city
2003-04 Galerie St-Dizier in Montréal
2005 Gallery Monkdogz in New-York
1999-2003 La galerie Internationale, Québec city
1986-87 Galerie Christin, Québec city
Other experiences and realisations:
2004-06 creation of a collection of statues and garden fountains, participation in the murals of Sherbrooke
2004 Collaboration for the second part of Murale Bowen in Seherbrooke
2003 Arstistic direction for Murale Bowen in Sherbrooke.
2002 Artistic direction for La Fresque Skinner in Sherbrooke.
2001 Artistic direction and coordination for La Fresque des Piliers 2 in Québec
2000 Artistic direction and coordination for La Fresque des Piliers 1 in Québec
1999 Painter for The Mural of Quebecers with Cité de la Création.
1997 Admission at the national bank of artists for the integration of arts in architecture
1990-95 Creation of Atelier Dufaux. Murals on command and teaching the techniques of "trompe-l’œil".
1993 Painting of the vault of Capitol Theater
1993-95 Teaching of the techniques of "trompe-l’œil", faux finish at: Atelier Dufaux
1985-87 writing of chronicles for the magazine Clin D’œil restoration works at the National Museum of Québec, confection of decors at Studio Triède in Montréal
1984- pastel and oil portraits on command
1979- 84 ceramist
Publications:
Newspapers:
Le Soleil, Le Journal de Québec, La Tribune, La Presse, the magazine Elle Québec, Décoration Chez Soi.
Radio:
Radio Canada, fm 93, CKRL fm
Television:
Radio Canada, Télé Québec, CFCF12, Quatre Saisons and TVA