{"id":36306,"date":"2025-05-16T11:14:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T15:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=36306"},"modified":"2025-05-16T11:14:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T15:14:18","slug":"vallieres-creates-world-of-wonder-through-discarded-cardboard-and-an-artists-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/vallieres-creates-world-of-wonder-through-discarded-cardboard-and-an-artists-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"Valli\u00e8res creates world of wonder through discarded cardboard \u2013 and an artist\u2019s approach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s often said that one person\u2019s trash is another person\u2019s treasure \u2013 and, through the eyes of Quebec artist Laurence\u00a0Valli\u00e8res, they can create worlds of wonder, with an edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sculptor Valli\u00e8res, who got her start in ceramics, is showcasing a very different medium in a new solo exhibition at the Aurora Cultural Centre, featuring larger-than-life, evocative pieces made out of discarded, humble cardboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a life-changer,\u201d Valli\u00e8res told The Auroran at the show\u2019s opening reception on Thursday evening, standing amid sculptures as varied as an eight-foot-tall cat, a multi-piece rendition of Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie, and wildlife ranging from dinosaurs to apes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy first passion was ceramics, but I wanted to do something really big for an event,\u201d she said. \u201cI had to fill up space and ceramic was not the material to go big. There was a lot of cardboard in the recycling bin of my studio, so it was the idea of one of my friends [who said], why don\u2019t you reproduce one of your little sculptures in cardboard?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A life-changer indeed, her unique approach to sculpture using an unconventional medium soon courted attention and before too long she was getting calls from galleries from as far away as Europe wanting her to work her corrugated magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pop culture is a prevailing theme in her work, but within the pop culture depicted are some pointed examples of social commentary. She finds her inspiration in both pop culture and societal issues, but sometimes she\u2019s also inspired by what\u2019s already on the cardboard she finds, such as branding and different shapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t happen often, but when you find something new and you know it\u2019s going to work, like a way to draw or a way to use material, it feels like falling in love,\u201d she said, with a glance over to Steamboat Willie. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s the same kind of little rush and it\u2019s a feeling that I am trying to find all the time. It only happens once in a while, but I would say that\u2019s the most rewarding part.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another rewarding aspect of her artistic journey, she said, has been inspiring others to, if you pardon the pun, think outside the box as far as their artistic horizons are concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI get so many emails from teachers and parents,\u201d she said of those who are interested in trying their hand at cardboard. \u201cIt\u2019s super-affordable and they\u2019re having fun; it\u2019s forcing you to understand three dimensions and applying and moving things to make it work through imagination. I think it\u2019s a good exercise and I think it\u2019s good for children to try, good for adults to try. I just like that you can do that with nothing and I think it\u2019s inspiring \u2013 I hope it\u2019s inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition runs through July 22 in the Aurora Cultural Centre\u2019s Homeroom Galleries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLaurence Valli\u00e8res (born in Qu\u00e9bec City, 1986) is a Montreal-based artist, internationally acclaimed for her larger-than-life cardboard sculptures,\u201d says the Centre. \u201cInitially focusing on ceramics during her education at Concordia University, her art evolved following a 2010 artist residency in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she was exposed to the practice of urban art. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEnvironmental concerns and sustainability lie at the core of Valli\u00e8res\u2019s practice, which she expresses through depictions of animals and references to pop culture characters like Mickey Mouse and Tweety Bird. Each of her creations are made from recycled cardboard, often gathered from the very location where her projects take place. Reflecting on her ties with urban art, where work is often created in response to pressing cultural, social, and political issues, her dedication to cardboard in her art serves as a call for sustainability\u2014a commentary on consumer culture, advocating for the movement of reuse over consumption and waste.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCome witness unimaginable feats of cardboard art through the renowned lens of Laurence Valli\u00e8res in this special visiting artist showcase. This exhibition is free for all ages and family friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s often said that one person\u2019s trash is another person\u2019s treasure \u2013 and, through the eyes of Quebec artist Laurence\u00a0Valli\u00e8res, they can create worlds of wonder, with an edge. Sculptor Valli\u00e8res, who got her start in ceramics, is showcasing a very different medium in a new solo exhibition at the Aurora Cultural Centre, featuring larger-than-life, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025-05-15-04a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9rA","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 17:04:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36311,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36306\/revisions\/36311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}