ARCHITECTURE AND ART:THESE ARE TWO OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

I have discoved two documentary series that have solidified my love of art and architecture, and they speak to daily life in Montreal and Quebec City. Both were found on MATV, and I hope to see them all again one day.

The first is a six part series about certain metro stations called Métro Voyage Dans
le Temps. It covers the stations Berri-UQAM, De L'eglise, Pie-X (Pee Neuf), Jean Talon, and Namur .

The metro opened on October 14, 1966, with 20 stations and three lines; orange, green, and blue. The invitations to the inauguration suggested "tenue de ville", or informal dress. A plaque marking the event now sits in the middle of a "rondelle", or puck that is used as a meeting place at Berri-UQAM station to this day. Since the beginning, there have been 4 different eras of building, and 4 architectural styles.

The latest one I saw was on the Montmorency station, that I have used once to get to the Bell center for Skate Canada last year. It interviewed architects, artists, and a performance artist. Montmorency station is the only one that serves Laval, and is the most recently opened, in 2007. Not only is there a CEGEP nearby by the same name, but the University of Montreal has a campus nearby as well.

To look at the design, it feels dated, and not the inspiring influence that I have come to love of the 1960s decor of Lionel-Groulx. But as it was described by the architects, the colours in the vertical brick stripes were inspired by Gauguin and his painting Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?, and replicated in the colour sequencing of the irregular stripes.

From the blog Poutine at Midnight

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
Hanging in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

 The enormous art pieces hanging over the escalators dwarf in the space, carefully hung with the CSST present and very tall scaffolding. They are by Hélène Rochette and are called Les Fluides.

Personally, I prefer the original artwork in many other stations. On our way to the botanical gardens recently, we exited through the turnstiles of Pie-X and went  by a wall of brassy looking concrete with the lofty Olympic motto as it's title Citius Altius Fortius from 1976. Since we had taken the train downtown, and wanted to walk to the Old Port for lunch, we also had the occasion to walk by these these beauties from 1966 at Peel station with versions  on both the walls and floors.

Circles by Jean-Paul Mousseau

For a list of artworks by metro station, check out the STM site, which does a great job at celebrating its many historical and artistic treasures.

For good luck, touch the hand of Mother Emilie Gamelin's bronze statue on the way in to Berry-UQAM from St. Catherine's Street.

The second doc series is Des Chemins, des Histoires, and it took us through a Quebec City neighbourhood with some interesting features. Hospital Enfant-Jesus is in a the area called Maizerets. It was founded by Quebec's first female doctor, Irma LeVasseur during the war years, with a paediatrician Dr. Fortier and an arthropod Dr Samson, after founding the Montreal Pediatric Hospital Saint Justine, where she was exluded from the surgical department, less than one year after she brought the hospital its first patient that she had previously been caring for in her own hom. The area is marked by a wide street called De La Canardiere, with an interesting diagonal direction, resulting in several flatiron buildings to optimize the acute angle formed in at least two directions. It begins at 3e Avenue and 6e Rue, with two functional flatiron building at its origin.A nearby church had the most interesting geometric pattern of triangles and a star of David, with the windows repeating the stars that build horizontally skyward in the church's bell tower at St Pascal. Oddly, the rules of naming business have changed with the increasing presence of the OLF. KFC was called Le Petit Colonel, and the new rage to hit Quebec in the 1980s was pizza, with a Western Pizza positioned in this area. The same building still sells pizza, under the name Le Maizerets. China Gardena nd Le Voyageur hotel were mentioned, and the documentary really is a walking tour from west to east of this boulevard named after a very long duck hunting rifle. Two parks were highlighted, the largest being the Domaine de Maizerets, were the English were identified as using in their advancing into the fortressed city of Quebec.  Honestly, I haven't found anything to corroborate that. I remember monuments at the base of the Montmorency Falls where English had camped, and see something called the Saunder's (British) diversion into the next city over called Beauport. In any case, these were areas occupied by French troops until the Battle of Quebec on September 13, 1759 in the Seven Years (French and Indian) War fell to the British on the infamous plains of Abraham. The park has a 16th century mansion, an arboretum and 11 km of walking trails. All in all, this is a neighbourhood I wouldn't mind checking out for myself next visit.