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Maurice Savoie - Profile
Maurice Savoie is an explorer who constantly reinvents the art of pottery. From his earliest murals in the 1960s, to his ceramic tableware prototypes for mass production and to his current sculptural art work, Savoie exudes an infectious love for natural and artistic beauty, and incorporates this love into his innovative and masterful work. Maurice Savoie is one of Canada's pre-eminent ceramic artists, and his career in Canada and abroad has spanned more than 50 years.
Born in Sherbrooke in 1930, Savoie began his studies in 1948 at the École du meuble in Montréal, where he was taught by ceramic sculptors Pierre Normandeau and Louis Archambeault. Between 1949 and 1989, he continued his studies in programmes at the École des beaux-arts in Montréal, at ceramic studios in Faenza, Rome and Paris, and most recently at the École nationale d'art décoratif in Limoges, France. Savoie's extensive training in both commercial and industrial applications for ceramics and his strong background in sculptural modeling have helped him develop a unique combination of skills that have contributed to the extraordinary range of his work.
Savoie uses clay and varied materials to create works that are about magic. He often uses toy-like objects and mythological beasts to comment on everyday situations and things such as sport utility vehicles. He has been inspired by symbolism and the metamorphosis of human history, as well as by C. G. Jung's Man and His Symbols. Savoie says his ideas for pieces come from many sources including nature, art history, his own curiosity and love of playing and story-telling. His favourite artists include Cézanne, Bonnard, Gauguin, Picasso, Klee, Riopelle and Inuit artists. He also loves pre-Columbian ceramics and Amlash ceramics of the 8th and 9th century from the region we now know as Iran. In addition, Savoie has a great interest in Oriental ceramics, particularly the Imari period of Japanese ceramics.
Savoie's challenge as an artist has been "to achieve a balance between the reality of life (bread and butter) and being able to maintain a necessary joy and continuity in creation without too much compromise." Savoie's long and rewarding career demonstrates that he has overcome this challenge. In the 1970s, he was involved with SIAL II, a company that mass-produced ceramics. While always maintaining his studio activities, Savoie was also extremely active in the art and architecture programme in Quebec in the 1960s and 1970s, and he continued to produce ceramic murals until 1995. His 1966 ceramic mural adjacent to the McGill Metro station is widely considered to be the first instance of integrated art in the Montréal subway system, and Savoie also produced an innovative design for a screen installation at the Quebec Pavilion at Expo 67.
Another part of Maurice Savoie's balancing act has been his role as a teacher. He has taught at a number of universities, colleges and art schools, including the Institute of Applied Arts and the Centre de céramique Bonsecours in Montréal, the Banff School of Fine Arts and Sheridan College.
He has enjoyed the challenge of teaching and of being able to communicate with younger people. He has also found that teaching has taught him a sense of discipline and sensitivity.
Savoie has exhibited his work in over 100 group and individual shows in Canada and abroad, in Czechoslovakia, England, Italy, Hungary and the United States. Earlier this year, Centre Materia in Québec City held a one man retrospective, Maurice Savoie: An Alchemical Journey. In 2001, he participated in a group show, Québec New York 2001, at the Westwood Gallery in New York City, as well as in a show organized by the Conseil des métiers d'art at the Queen's Gallery and Art Centre in Charlotte, North Carolina. Savoie has also exhibited at events such as the Salon international du design d'intérieur de Montréal (SIDIM) and Sculpture Objects & Functional Art (SOFA) in Chicago and Miami.
Savoie's pieces can be found at Library and Archives Canada; the Conseil des métiers d'art du Québec; the Loto-Québec Collection; Claridge Inc.; the National Gallery of Canada; the Secretary of State, Ottawa; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; the Jean A. Chalmers Collection; the Indusmin Collection; the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, and the Quebec Delegation in Paris.
He was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1994 and was also made a Member of the Order of Canada the same year. He is currently active on the Selection Committee for the Province of Quebec's Art in Architecture Program.
Maurice Savoie continues to explore the world of pottery and all its facets. He marvels at his ability to transform his dreams of creations into real objects. While he feels that he has achieved a certain level of freedom in his work, he hopes to continue to create truly original objects.
Savoie resides and has his studio in Longueuil, Quebec.
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