Caroline Ouellette has been a glassmaker since 1996. In 2004, she cofounded Welmo Glass Studio located in Sainte-Julie. For many years, she made pieces for crafts shops and glass galleries. Her work is featured in many private and public collections, including Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec. She completed her PhD in Philosophy, specializing in Art Glass, in Adelaide, South Australia.
“I spent four years in Adelaide, South Australia and graduated with my PhD in 2014. My doctorate research in Philosophy, specializing in Art Glass, was a very rewarding experience, on both personal and professional level, especially with regard to my work. My thesis entitled: “In Vitro: Investigating Time Through the Perception of the Invisible” enabled me to expand my sculptural research while positioning it within the current artistic context. My work has been greatly influenced by my experience in Australia, and has since been simplified, reflecting the Australian landscape.”
“Seeing art can cause a somatic shock wave like the one we got as a child when… after hearing its bell, we ran towards the ice cream truck only to realize that it was a knife-sharpening truck.”
Caroline Ouellette
Caroline Ouellette’s work, inspired by glass as a material is a research on sensuality. Glass, at times gentle and dangerous, exists in various forms on this spectrum in the work. On the one hand, the inviting shiny surface and the tactile bit of the glass entices to be touched. On the other, the delicacy of the hanged glass panels and the invite to interact with the work reminds us of our own fragility.
Always on the fine line between allowed and forbidden, the viewer is questioned. The work requires a pause to allow the play with the viewer’s senses. It becomes a collective experience and voluntarily leaves room to interpretation.