Monique Fillion was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and is currently working in both her home studio and at her cottage.
Artistic expression has always been part of Monique. Image-making, music and theatre filled her childhood and adolescence. Following high school, Monique graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Manitoba, having spent her second year of study at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She has illustrated two children’s books and a book of poetry and is currently working with acrylic on canvas.
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Artist Statement
I would describe myself as a philosophical painter, interested in the human experience. Everything we do leaves a trace. Nothing is ever lost. Every action leaves a mark. Over time, these traces intertwine, fuse and separate to create the shapes of our experience.
I spend a great deal of time observing the elements of nature; how in our physical world life is constantly transformed and renewed. In my early work I painted the wide open spaces so typical of Manitoba. I then became interested in mindfulness and zen philosophy and my practice of being fully present in the moment began to appear in my work. The landscapes became metaphors for existence, human experiences imbedded in the land and the rock. Each moment juxtaposed over the next, interacting and responding to all that came before to create stories, history.
During the process of creation, I begin with an intention but I also maintain an openess to what is appearing in the moment. I don’t want to be limited by what I already know. I am, in a way, having a conversation with the paint and the canvas. I offer and I receive. It is a visceral connection, an unspoken dialogue that includes intuition, emotion, thought and my physical being all at the same time.
The present moment includes the past but offers a greater potential, which is the possibility of the emerging.
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