Kalaket/Caraquet
Meeting of two rivers
Artists
Pauline Bujold
Robert Pictou
Caraquet.
​
Calaket, Carraquet, Karaquet, Caraquette.
​
Place of diverse population.
Situated at the mouth of two rivers, north and south meet each other.
Some believe that Caraquet comes from the same name in Normandie.
​
For others, from a boat named caraque, there is only one letter to cross.
​
Caraquet, the meeting of two nations, Acadian and Mi’kmaq.
​
Meeting of three populations: the Normands from the Ruisseau-à-Isabelle, the Quebeckers in the middle, the deportees of Grand-Pré and Port-Royal in Sainte-Anne-du-Bocage.
​
The meeting of three skills: sea, land, forest, net, harrow, log.
​
The meeting of so much hope to go back alongside this coastal arrow.
​
So much habits and different accents on the schooners with round nose.
​
Bond and main place between the two shores of the Bay of Chaleurs; cod and love.
​
At one time, the longest village in the world: 30 km.
And the hope with the grande grant of 1784: our lands with the royal seal.
​
Caraquet, where the riots of 1875 allowed saving the schools in the blood of Louis Mailloux. Where 3000 Acadians free themselves from the yoke and not from 80 Anglophones but from an empire
And then were established the Collège du Sacré-Coeur and the convent of the sisters of Notre-Dame.
Hope also came along with the co-ops, the shipyards, the trawlers to end with the exploitation of the Loggie, the Robins and their descendants.
​
In 1963, there were 31 allegorical cars at the Acadian festival: today a worldwide racket.
​
And the beauty of the decorated fishing fleet for the boats blessing. The Ovatek, survival capsule, like Noah’s Ark, will go through the flood if it has to.
​
Perseverance, creativity of a nation, pride of the posture, look, gesture, voice.
​
Symbol and spellbinding mystery of that French Gallic village of Astérix named Caraquet.
​
Ode to the professionals, the workers, the artists, to the ordinary people of everyday.
​
Region with an identity drenched into the quartz of this capital of the Acadie.
Pauline Bujold
Campbellton, N.B.
Pauline, currently lives in Campbellton, New Brunswick. An accomplished artist, she has participated in numerous exhibitions. One of her sculptures is part of the Permanent Art Collection at UNI Financial Cooperation's head office in Caraquet, New Brunswick.
​
The work she created for the exhibition Irréductibles racines is inspired by the Mi'kmaq origin of the name "Caraquet".
It is through several generations that the meaning of the two rivers takes its source. The artist has remained sensitive to the realities of this world through family and childhood. Children are beautiful because the reflection that crosses their eyes borrows all the poetry of their real territory as well as their inner territory. With strength and softness, the artist speaks to us, through this work, of the need to live without compromise uncompromisingly her inner world.
Robert Pitcou
First Nation
Eel River Bar, N.B.
Robert Pictou is a First Nations artist from the community of Eel River Bar, New Brunswick. This artist has explored different techniques and has a great ability to carve wood. He also makes birch bark canoes in respect of the Mi'kmaq tradition.
​
Robert Pictou is an inspiring artist for his community and teaches the younger generation the traditional art of birch bark canoeing.
He has participated in the Atlantic Visual Arts Festival on several occasions, much to the delight of visitors.
​
The work he created for the exhibition Irréductibles racines is inspired by the Mi'kmaq origin of the name "Caraquet".