Ysabelle Vautour is primarily a mixed media painter from Grand Barachois, NB. Currently living in Fredericton, she is the founder of the New Brunswick Disability Art Collective. This former crisis intervenor decided in 2019 to teach herself how to paint and do art every day for a year as part of a self-care project. In that year, she was invited to speak at Artslink's Short and Sweet Speaker Series, participated in a few live painting competitions, and started teaching at Serenity Wellness, the NBCCD Craft Library as well as private classes. Her art was featured at the Fredericton Public Library, CBC New Brunswick and Grid City Magazine. Ysabelle's work was also selected for a juried exhibition at the Nails on the Wall Gallery in Metuchen, New Jersey.
In 2020, Ysabelle continued to do some art tutoring, focusing on art as therapy and fostering the creative process. She was featured in the Shediac Artist Village, Ami tele and Created Here Magazine. She was an artist in residence with the Fredericton Arts Alliance. She gave a public talk at NBCCD Craft library, where she also received a micro-grant for her self-directed Alone Together residency.
2021 brings two solo exhibitions for Ysabelle, the first at the Penny Gallery in Fredericton and the second at Corid’art Gallery in Shediac. You can see her art at Cinnamon Cafe and Surface Float in Fredericton. This recent Catapult graduate just launched Creating Accessible Solutions where she is currently working on Atlantic Canada's first Disability Art Symposium in collaboration with TNB and the JRG Society for the Arts
ARTIST STATEMENT
My process often begins by taking pictures. I regularly collect images for reference material, and I like to let some time go by so the ideas can marinate. In addition, I have an art journal where I collect ideas for themes and patterns. I use it as part of my artistic process. I love to learn and chat with artists. I find I can generate ideas just with conversation. I am fascinated with collaboration I think it's so magical when it all comes together.
I used to work as a crisis intervener. I learned that we all want to feel understood, heard, and seen and that most people have a hard time saying what they mean and an even harder time talking about their feelings and experiences.
I agree with Carl Jung that loneliness isn’t the absence of people; it’s the inability to express what’s important to us. As an artist, I am interested in people’s personal experiences and the things that haven’t yet been defined. What aren’t you talking about because no one is asking? I gravitate towards disability arts. I think innovation is what we need for accessibility to truly work. I want us to think about accessibility differently, and what better to explore that than through art.
My visual impairment affects the way I see light and colours. I am very sensitive to light. Its changing reflection affects my mood. Because I can’t see colours, I am more interested in a person’s energy, and what lies inside waiting to be expressed.
I have always been fascinated by faces and what feelings they convey, and how I feel while I paint them. It’s a silent dialogue as one minor stroke can change the expression on someone’s face completely. I paint intuitively, allowing space for what is about to surface. I often feel like it’s my job as an artist to be an active listener to what’s going on at any given moment.
My creativity takes many forms: painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, poetry, improv, and partner dancing, specifically swing and blues.
Contact:
Ysabelle Vautour
Fredericton, NB
Telephone: 506-261-3650
E-mail: ysabellevautour@hotmail.com
Website: http://www.creatingaccess.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/creatingaccess
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatingaccess
Ysabelle Vautour
