An exhibition that includes ceramics, furniture, and paintings might suggest three separate shows merely sharing the same space. However, this is not the aim of an upcoming three-person show by Pauline DeJordy, Don McEwen, and Helga Sermat at Hemmingford’s Old Convent from September 25 to 27 as part of the province-wide Journées de la culture.
With Acts of Balance / Jeux d’équilibre, the artist trio hopes to show how diverse types of work can create a unified space, suggesting ways to live with art in the home. The artists will also bring elements of their studio practices into the exhibition, and be available to answer questions, giving viewers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the creative process itself.
The three have shown together before. All are Hemmingford-based and, although they work in different disciplines, share an artistic sensibility in the way they prioritize simplicity of design, intuitive thinking, creative freedom, and the maker’s hand in the created object.
With years of experience making dishware, ceramicist Pauline DeJordy says focusing excessively on wheel-thrown production led her toward a quest for perfection and uniformity, which she has come to see as restrictive to her creativity.
“Now I want to do more hand-building and exploration,” she says, “so that there’s a balance between the two.”
Working primarily in stoneware for its sturdiness, for this exhibition she will combine functional objects like platters with sculptural vessels and vases created by using her hands alone or by making a preliminary form on the wheel and finishing by hand. She has even begun experimenting with engraving into the clay to create interesting contrasts during colour glazing, her favourite part of the ceramics process.
Don McEwen, who has a background in theatre stage design and as a scenic painter and carpenter for film sets, had a woodworking hobby that became the small furniture design business he currently runs from his home studio.
For this exhibition, he will show oak furniture inspired by American Arts and Crafts designer Gustav Stickley, whose work McEwen admires for its simple, elegant aesthetic, and its anti-industrial, do-it-yourself philosophy.
McEwen’s design process begins at the drafting table; drawing, for him, is a form of play and discovery. Good design, he believes, is something viewers recognize instinctively without necessarily being able to explain why it feels right. “It’s all about proportion,” he says. “At a certain point, it rings.”
Helga Sermat turned to abstract painting after growing disillusioned with her work as an illustrator where she often had to make her art conform to other people’s expectations. Liberated from what she calls “the mission of having to produce something that looked like something recognizable,” her approach to painting is now gradual and intuitive. She applies thin layers of acrylic paint to canvas or paper, sometimes sanding and scraping between layers, until a loose structure emerges. This helps her to make decisions about how the painting will develop.
For the exhibition, Sermat, who often prefers small formats, has recently been pushing herself to work larger. “I do have some three-foot paintings, which for me is huge,” she says.
The relationship among the three artists is characterized by camaraderie. McEwen and Sermat met and became friends about ten years ago. DeJordy is the newest member of the group. She met Sermat at an exhibition at a local church soon after moving to Hemmingford in 2021, and through Sermat eventually met McEwen.
All three moved to Hemmingford for similar reasons: access to larger and less expensive studio spaces, fewer distractions, and a lower cost of living that allows more time for making art. They also found a pre-existing creative community as shown by the now decades-old Wool Gathering fair started by artist Sue Heller.
The Old Convent has been particularly important to this collaboration. The historic building gives the artists a place where they can organize exhibitions for themselves with fewer restrictions than a commercial gallery might impose, leaving them free to show not only their finished works in Acts of Balance, but also some of the processes behind them: DeJordy’s ceramic test tiles used to develop her glazes; Sermat’s colour charts, photographs, and studies; and McEwen’s drawn designs and samples of wood stains.
For Sermat, revealing these elements shows viewers that the finished artwork is only part of the story.
“The final piece is probably like ten percent of the effort,” she says.
The vernissage for Acts of Balance / Jeux d’équilibre takes place at the Old Convent, 549 Frontière, in Hemmingford, from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday, September 25. The exhibition continues Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.