Koohawaak/Kouchibouguac
River with long tides
Artists
Bernice Butler
Alec Lawson Tuckatuck
Kouchibougouac
​
Covered with ice 14,000 years ago.
​
Pichibouguac, Passibiguac, Koohawaak.
​
Big river over there, rivers with long and big tides.
​
Bordered at the north by Escuminac meaning: up to here there is fruity seeds.
​
Magnificent park: lagoons, salt march, sponge peat bogs, fabulous bocage.
​
The osprey, official symbol of the park has a tomcod in his claws. Just like the one on the old 10$ bill.
​
And the osprey came back when the DDT was over.
The cougar also showed his snout.
​
The mink is licking his glossy fur; the seals are basking in the sun.
The most gorgeous sand dunes of the Atlantic are riddled with clams.
​
The prairies with goldenrod whisper to a rare orchid.
​
The smelt, the salmon, jump in the rainbow with the two coloured swallows.
​
The scarlet starfish is playing with the blazing warbler .
The hummingbird dance with the one who has a red throat.
​
The black bear is stuffing himself with blueberries and raspberries than rolls into the healing clay.
​
The setting sun is reflecting into the golden of the cloudberries.
​
The trees are reflecting into the water, the roots in the sky.
​
The tenacity of two nations: Mi’kmaq and Acadian.
​
Ceaseless struggle so that mankind belongs to the land and not the opposite.
​
Expropriation, dramatic struggles, second deportation, end of the village of Claire Fontaine.
​
The cunning of the red fox was not enough.
​
The coastal arrows cried, the Kouchibouguac and Saint-Louis rivers went back to their banks.
​
We protect the piping plover but where are the people of the park villages?
​
For the beginning of reconciliation and duty to remember
Bernice Butler
Saint-Thomas-de-Kent, N.B.
Originally from Paquetville, New Brunswick, Bernice Butler currently lives in Saint-Thomas-de-Kent. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Université de Moncton, as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film. She has worked on the sets of many films as a prop maker.
​
Bernice Butler has a creative studio in St. Thomas. She has had a solo exhibition at the Café Phare in Caraquet, the Heron Gallery in Shediac and several times at the Moncton Art Society. She has also participated in creative workshops at the Atlantic Visual Arts Festival in Caraquet.
​
The work she created for the exhibition Irréductibles racines is inspired by the Mi'kmaq origin of the name "Kouchibouguac".
​
There is a collective memory and from this memory, Bernice Butler created this work as a tribute to Jackie Vautour, the Resistance fighter, his family, and all those who have the courage to expose social injustices.
Alec Lawson Tuckatuck
Kuujjuaq, Qc.
Alec Lawson Tuckatuck is originally from Miramichi, New Brunswick. He is a very talented sculptor who works with various materials. His themes are animals, legends, myths, stories and the unique lifestyle of the people in his community. His primary inspiration comes from the landscape and the desire to preserve our traditions.
​
For him, art is a way to make his culture shine and to keep its memory alive.
​
It was while watching his grandfather, Sarowilly Ammittuk, carve and trying to imitate him that he developed a taste for this art. His grandfather would ask him what he saw in the carving stone and suggest that he try to find an animal in it. At the age of seven, he carved a seal lying on its side, a sculpture he still treasures today.
​
For Alex Lawson Tuckatuck, artistic expression is a way to show who he is and his culture.
For the exhibition Irreducibles racines, the artist is associated with the name "Kouchibouguac".
The work he created for the exhibition Irréductibles racines is inspired by the Mi'kmaq origin of the name "Kouchibouguac".