Mimi Coté

Growing up in a musical family, how your early exposure to music influenced your journey in visual arts?

Our Québec City house, built by our grandfather in 1921, was home to an eclectic cacophony. On the first floor, all day long, Mother listened to opera and piano while rock ‘n’ roll music played by my three brothers made its way up from the basement. We, the three girls, played the piano and sang along with our favorite folk singers on the top floor. Was it not just natural when so many artists, musicians, and painters preceded us in the genealogical tree?

At the dinner table, where we were reunited, percussions were at their best, with the beat pulsed with forks and knives on the resonating plates and glasses. Yes, there was a stylistic free-for-all that allowed for every form of art. At that time, Mother was studying art history, and we were the “flower power” generation. So, I soon started to paint.

You discovered a passion for art at a young age in Charlevoix. How did the landscape and community of Charlevoix shape your artistic vision?

Charlevoix had always been a magnet for artists, Canadian and Québécois painters flocked to the rugged county with its mountains and capes plunging into the Saint Lawrence River, its indomitable nature softened by its villages and people. That’s where the family for generations spent the summers. There my parents enrolled me at age 7 in drawing classes given by Geneviève Desgagnés, a local artist who taught in the attic of her gorgeous old home. What marked me the most was that day when she asked us to draw our fellow students pretending to play cards around a small table. What fascinated me most was to realize that each one of the kids had a specific expression that made them look the way they did. The discovery of the art of the portrait filled me with a joyous passion.

A few summers later I met with Genevieve’s cousin. He organized concerts of singers/songwriters who were then popular in Québec. A whole world opened for me as I was exposed to the best of the Québécois leading talents. He also made me participate in the preparation of the show posters. I learned from him that listening to music while creating was boosting the surprise and joy that accompany creation. Frequenting those two cousins certainly triggered the start of my artistic journey.

Louis’ favourite singer was Donovan, and the following Christmas I asked my parents for that same Donovan’s album. I played my first record over and over again, trying to turn into illustrations the emotions that this enchanting music was bringing back. Emotions became too strong to live by painting only and poetry helped me focus on my emotions. Writing poems came very early and each new summer in Charlevoix brought its load of inspiration. The beach became my atelier. I painted in watercolour the many familiar faces that had become so dear to me.
“And the seasons they go round and round” (Joni Mitchell).

Could you tell us more about the transition from painting landscapes and portraits of friends to creating works from your imagination at age 14? What inspired this shift?

I guess I was predisposed, growing up in an environment favourable to the arts, attracted by the poetic side of life. A small discovery intrigued me when I retrieved from the bottom of a closet a half-filled watercolour set that had belonged to my very conservative aunt. Alongside lay reproductions of Marie Laurencin’s watercolours, a female artist inspired by Picasso and the poet Jean Cocteau.

Without hesitation, I added wings to my characters, animals entered my canvases and were given starring roles, windows opened to many observers. Everyday scenes took on symbolic significance. I had entered the realm of imagination with its mysteries and powers.

How did your studies at the Ontario University of Art contribute to your development as an artist, and what did the Forsyth scholarship mean to you?

I was thrilled to be at the college. Bill Poole in printmaking, Louis de Niverville in collage, Franklin Arbuckle in mural painting, and my dear Mary Corelli in costume and fashion design all coached me fantastically. I was enthused with the many alleys of creation that were opening before me. I had my first group exhibition at the francophone cultural center. Then I joined drawing workshops outside of the school. My friends and I loved a Montréal band called Harmonium. Toronto was filled with the sculptures of the great British artist Henry Moore, who donated many of his works to the city. And after hours, I frequented the speakeasy just across the street from me. I met there many emerging artists, actors, and musicians like Peter and Dan Aykroyd, Mary Margaret O’Hara, who at that time was my hero.

All that came to an end with my graduation. The evening of the ceremony, I was a little surprised to hear my name called twice, a first time to receive my diploma in Fine Arts and General Studies, and then I returned to the stage to accept the Forsyth Scholarship. I could not be proud because I didn’t really know what it meant… I would soon find out.

The summer following graduation, I had the privilege to spend an afternoon with Québec’s great painter Jean-Paul Lemieux. I arrived at his home with a selection of my drawings and paintings. I couldn’t believe it when he paid a large sum of money for one of my portraits. We spent the afternoon in his wonderful garden, with all sorts of flowers I had never seen and, popping here and there to my great joy, many sculptures.

The Elizabeth Greenshield Foundation allowed you to study under Franklin Arbuckle in Florence. How did this experience in Italy influence your artistic style and perspective?

Yes, thanks to the grant, I could travel and live in Florence under the umbrella of the OCDA off-campus program. The artist Franklin Arbuckle asked me to become his assistant. That fabulous experience totally changed my life.

The first time I sat in front of La Primavera di Botticelli, it brought the word creation to another level. And that’s when the word beauty was born for me. One could almost feel the presence and influence of the Medici everywhere. The shop windows, the architecture, the gardens, the clothes, even the shoes were all influenced by the Florentines’ understanding of beauty. By osmosis, if I may say, a maturity appeared in my work under Franklin Arbuckle.

“Archie” managed to get me out of my comfort zone, forced me out, and encouraged me not to be afraid of change. From pastel and softness, my work became more dramatic. Contrasts, strong contrasts, imposed themselves. I practiced a new technique of watercolor mixed with oil that allowed surprises in my work. Freedom appeared in my learning process, as did deeper exploration of the medium.

While in Italy, I continued to nourish my passion for words and melodies. I discovered Lucio Dalla, Pino Daniele, and Claudio Baglione. I returned many times to Florence afterward to be with my dear friend Rita, who every morning took me in and around the city to paint a new garden. They were the works of her father-in-law, Pietro Porcinai, the greatest garden designer of the 20th century. And I went from surprise to surprise…

That journey was followed by an exhibition in Québec City of the Porcinai gardens, where Rita appears.

Your work often features decorated frames as part of the expression. What is the significance of these frames, and how do they complement your artwork?

You may laugh at the simplicity of the answer. I like when the canvas becomes an object, and it becomes an object thanks to the painted frame! The motifs: flowers, fish, birds add a sense of poetry to the subject of the painting itself.

You’ve been part of numerous exhibitions and even collaborated on a mural at the Baie-SaintPaul symposium. How has participating in these projects impacted your artistic journey?

Apart from my Florence experience, my presence at the symposium of Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 was the second chance in my life to be exposed to a day-to-day life with the same group of artists. We were painting together, eating together, sharing artistic experiences between us but also with the visitors of the symposium. In my case, members of the public were also participating as models. I included them in the mural.

Could you share some insights into your current mural project, which includes nine portraits in hand-painted frames? What message or emotion are you hoping to convey through this piece?

What I am trying to convey in that mural is that we are all unique, individual human beings placed in a group situation, or framed if you prefer, whether in houses, buildings, schools, churches, institutions. Alone but part of the group, reunited by the frames.

*You will find some of my songs on YouTube. Look for Mimi Coté “Black Bay,” “Au fond de leurs yeux,” “Sous le couvercle de la nuit,” and more. I produced that album with the fabulous Montreal pianist Guillaume Martineau. The studio experience was magical, one of my musical highlights.