As Canadian students head back to school, the Riopelle Foundation launches world-renowned artist Jean Paul Riopelle’s 100th-anniversary celebration with Riopelle Studio. This educational website is designed to help teachers discover Riopelle’s works and legacy. The interactive platform provides students with exciting tools and resources in English and French. Students can participate in 10 different art projects and explore games, video clips, a glossary, and more.
Born in Montreal, Jean Paul Riopelle (1923-2002) was an internationally known painter and sculptor. He’s known for his abstract painting style, including his “mosaic” works of the 1950s, when he began applying paint to the canvas with a palette knife instead of a paintbrush.
Riopelle Studio was developed by the Riopelle Foundation’s team over the past year. It was headed by art education expert Dr. Andrée-Caroline Boucher in partnership with Montreal creative agency Akufen. Students can access the website via a desktop computer, a tablet or a phone.
In a written statement, Manon Gauthier, Executive Director of the Riopelle Foundation, said:
“In the 1930s, a young Jean Paul Riopelle discovered the arts thanks to his teacher Henri Bisson at Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague Elementary School, in his Montreal childhood neighbourhood. His growing passion would later bring him to become one of the greatest ambassadors for Canadian culture worldwide. The Riopelle Foundation is thus extremely proud to launch the Riopelle Studio educational platform with the objective of inspiring the next generation of artists through Riopelle’s impressive artistic legacy.”
Riopelle Studio draws on educational resources developed by the artist’s daughter, Yseult Riopelle, author of the Catalogue Raisonné de Jean Paul Riopelle and Honorary Commissioner of Riopelle’s Centenary Celebration.
The Riopelle Foundation and the Art Canada Institute have published a resource guide for teachers in English and French. Download it at https://bit.ly/3xOOv5t.
For more information about Riopelle Studio or the centenary celebration, email the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation at [email protected].
