Pixels
Nancy Létourneau is a graphic designer, painter and (former) ultra marathon runner from Quebec City. After studying visual arts at Campus Notre-Dame-de-Foy and a bachelor's degree in arts at the Université du Québec à Montréal, she continued her studies in graphic design. She obtained her diploma in 1999 and set up her own company: Studio Pixels. The following years are mostly devoted to her profession as a graphic designer, which she practices independently, as well as to her growing family.
In May 2011, Nancy started running, a sport that quickly became her escape.
The enthusiasm for this discipline is a revelation for Nancy; she participates, among others, in a major running event for a good cause: the Montreal-New York Challenge 2013 during which she runs 80km! In the midst of her motivation, her taste for the arts resurfaced and this is how she reconnected with painting, her first passion.
It is in this wave of strides and finish lines that she embarks on the development of "Footprint", a series of works inspired by running. The artist creates texture with imprints of the soles of old running shoes collected from her running friends. Either in plaster or paint itself, these prints represent this sport of physical power and mental strength. To each of the works, Nancy adds one or more silhouettes of runners, a discreet presence in an abstract landscape, a necessary presence to the soul of each solitary runner. Following a foot injury in 2018, Nancy can no longer really run and over time has neglected this series. The last of this series is from 2019.
Recipient of the 2013 Honorable Mention in the "Agents Seeking Talent" competition of the
Galerie Maison Dupont of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Nancy Létourneau adopts an artistic approach impregnated with her two passions, which will allow her to present her creations in several exhibitions (solo and collective) and running events. Recipient of the SIDIM Excellence Award and ART X TERRA Coup de Coeur in the GALLERY section at SIDIM 2015. The works of Studio Pixels have touched by his artistic approach that combines his other passions, namely nature, painting and running.
Still in love with hiking, sunrises and sunsets, the beauty of nature that each moment offers us and unable to focus on a single medium "Nature unexplored" was born.
In an intuitive and spontaneous way, Pixels explores the richness and infinite possibilities offered by different mediums such as acrylic, gouache, collage, oil stick, alcohol ink and watercolor ink. The colors, sometimes elusive, sometimes shimmering, melt into each other giving the impression of being in an enchanting dream. The fiber of the papers she uses is
At the throat of each material, the pigments meet and intermingle causing a real explosion of vitality. There follows a slow and meticulous work where the artist superimposes
pencil strokes that come to draw and define forms sometimes vegetal, sometimes floral. The result is striking. The works of Pixels offer a unique journey to the heart of an unexplored, mysterious, invented nature that leaves room for our own interpretation.
Photo credit: Montreal Portrait
