Sculpting a niche in northern Ontario

Colette Jacques, a sculpter and painter based in Larder Lake, Ont., is helping others see the beauty in mining.

The 50-year-old artist uses wood, cement and clay to create numerous sculptures, among which are two 25-inch clay figures dubbed The Driller and The Stoper. These and other of her pieces have been on display at the Elliot Lake Nuclear and Mining Museum and the Toronto Mining Symposium, as well as museums in Timmins, Kirkland Lake and Val d’Or.

Jacques says she turns to mining for inspiration. “I was looking for something that represented [northern Ontario], and mining seemed to do that. Around here, everyone is a miner, or has a son or a cousin or an uncle that worked in the mines. Mining is part of us.”

Jacques’ father worked briefly at the gold mines in Larder Lake, and her husband of 32 years, Caroll Jacques, worked at the Kerr-Addison gold mine in nearby Virginiatown. In the early 1990s, Jacques and a few friends fashioned a 10-ft.-tall plaque outside Kerr-Addison. When the mine closed a few years ago, the plaque was moved to the tourist centre in Virginiatown, where it is on display with two of Jacques’ 6-ft. cement mining sculptures.

“I started by painting, and then I did a little bit of sculpting, and then I went back to painting,” she says.

Born in Matachewan, Ont., 60 km southeast of Timmins, Jacques moved, at an early age, to nearby Moffet, Que., about 40 km northeast of Ville-Marie. She returned to Larder Lake at 12 and later married Caroll, with whom she had three children. Caroll works at L’Association Canadienne-franaise de L’Ontario, a group that helps protect the rights of francophones across the province, while Jacques sells her hand-made creations.

“I have to live, so I sell everything I make,” she explains. “It’s my living.”

Jacques’ mother was Mtis, and the artist enjoys the trappings of the traditional French Canadian-native lifestyle. She fishes throughout the year and recently shot her fourth moose. She gave most of the meat away but is using the leather for a set of Black Ash wood drums.

She has travelled to numerous exhibits to share her art with others, but this year she is focusing on herself and her art.

“I’m taking time to live. You have to love what you do. When I start to sculpt, I don’t think about anything else. I’m in that sculpture.”