Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Article in METROLAND EAST NEWSPAPER

Helene Lacelle

Submitted/Peter Evanchuck
Helene Lacelle carries one of her works into Café Nostalgica, at 601 Cumberland St. Her exhibit with Peter Evanchuck runs until the end of February

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Ottawa East News

Two Sandy Hill artists are inviting art lovers to engage in their world of “marvelous realism” this February.

Peter Evanchuck and Helene Lacelle have launched a new exhibit at Café Nostalgica – called Marvelous Realism Canada – which combines photography and other mediums.
The couple’s work draws from magical realism, a literary and artistic style that portrays fantastical things happening in the real world.
“Basically it’s the ability to get the audience to feel what we felt when we were on location and when we were shooting the photographs,” Evanchuck said.
“We didn’t feel the photos themselves would reveal that feeling alone.”
Most of the work in the exhibit centres on abandoned houses in New Brunswick the couple stumbled upon while driving to their cottage in the Maritimes.
Some of the homes had been deserted for decades, but one had been abandoned as recently as five years ago.
The two explored these buildings and discovered all sorts of belongings that had been left behind. They were particularly struck with some dolls that they included on a number of the images in the exhibit.
Evanchuck photographed the homes and Lacelle then used paint, software and other mediums to alter them in an attempt to evoke a certain emotion they were feeling at the time.
“These images convey how we felt about those abandoned houses,” Evanchuk said.
“Those dolls are waiting for the little girls that left them behind. It creates that feeling of marvel and also a tragic sense of loss for when these people had to abandon their homes.”
The couple said altering the images was necessary to convey the deep feelings of abandonment and sense of marvel.
The exhibit is set to run at 601 Cumberland St. until the end of February.

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