A Sculptor of the Uncanny: Katie Lemieux (HBFA’14) makes her mark

Katie Lemieux has been drawing ever since she was old enough to hold a Crayola. 

Today, the Thunder Bay artist is an internationally recognized sculptor who’s participated in group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Europe, and South Korea.

“When I was a kid, I was attracted to sculpture after seeing marble angels beside gravestones,” Katie says. “They seemed so sad and mysterious – I wanted to know why they were always in cemeteries.” 

After high school, she enrolled in Lakehead’s fine arts program where she was influenced by the divergent styles of 19th-century American sculptor Edward V. Valentine and 20th-century Swiss surrealist sculptor Alberto Giacometti.

“Their work made me realize that I could combine traditional and contemporary strands of art and create my own narrative,” she says.

Kasia Piech, a Lakehead ceramics instructor, also spurred Katie’s artistic development. It was through Piech that Katie was able to travel to China’s celebrated Jingdhezhen Facility to complete a six-week artistic residency in 2015.

“It was the first time I’d been to such a vastly different culture and one that was so storied and skilled in ceramics,” Katie says. “It made me want to participate in this international conversation.”

Later, at a workshop in Croatia arranged by Piech, Katie met the head of the ceramics department at the University of Wisconsin’s Peck School of the Arts. 

At his encouragement, Katie completed a Master of Fine Arts at Peck before returning to Thunder Bay in 2019. She’s now fully embraced the life of an artist and is buoyed by the critical success her work is enjoying. 

One of her main sources of inspiration comes from her second job as personal support worker – a career she chose because of her fascination with paraverbal communication, as well as to supplement her income.

Paraverbal communication is a term used to describe ways of communicating without words.

“There’s not as much awareness of non-verbal communication as there should be,” Katie says. “People who are deaf, hearing impaired, or autistic express themselves using body language and facial expressions.” 

The theme of paraverbal communication runs through her current solo exhibition at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery called Ending Up.

“It’s a two-part show that explores non-verbal communication by arranging my sculptures in certain ways to express the idea of conversation without words.”

The exhibition features headless figures that call to mind both ancient Greek statuary and Giacometti’s elongated and unsettling sculptures. Her work is described by the Art Gallery as “multi-gendered and androgynous clay subjects that are vehicles for a complicated range of human expression.”

“I wanted to present something that wasn’t particularly pretty or aesthetic,” Katie says, “because confronting things that are challenging can open up potential.”

The show is also described “a voyeuristic look into the studio of a sculptor” where small finger-like objects and figurines jostle each other on wooden shelves.

“If you could go back in time to the studios of artists like Giacometti and Michelangelo, you’d see crowded dusty spaces,” Katie says. “I wanted to give viewers the chance to see behind the curtain.”

She has been overwhelmed by the reaction to her work.

“The support that Thunder Bay has shown for this exhibition has been amazing,” Katie says. “And after two years of quiet from the pandemic, it’s great to see people talking again.”

Ending Up will be on display at the Thunder Bay art gallery until June 19, 2022.