Portrait

 

Paul was born into a creative St.Boniface family. At a young age, he and his siblings spent countless hours playing with plasticine. They created anything their imaginations could conjure – towns and forts and fantastic creatures. He also spent many days at their aunt and uncle’s home. His uncle just happens to be the famous St Boniface architect Etienne Gaboury and his aunt the reputable local potter Claire Gaboury. Their home was filled with sculptures and modern art. This exposure encouraged Paul to enter an art contest at Louis Riel Collegiate in his graduating year (1972). He went to a construction site gathered some clay and created an old man in the Québec artisanat style and placed second in the contest.
His love for art, though always present, took a back seat to other left-brain pursuits. After pursuits in science,he obtained a teaching assignment at Powerview School 1978 and taught there for 31 yrs (retired 2009). While there Paul met a gifted art teacher, Sister Pauline Ménard. He took her pottery courses (1978-1982) and discovered that he liked working on the wheel but his real inspiration lay in formed structures. Later on, he took an “atelier” (1980) with the famous Saskatchewan sculptor Joe Fafard whose colourful caricatures led him to the style that he loves today. While teaching at Powerview School, he would sometimes collaborate with the school’s art teacher Nancy Kovachick and show students how to construct sculptures with clay. His most recent collaboration was in 2015.