Oosomogwek/Shemogue
River forked by its two branches
Artists
Bernard Dugas
Francine Francis
Shemogue
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From the Mi’kmaq : Semogoig gisna ou Oosomogwek : forked river because of two branches of its river.
River who has the shape of a horn.
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We also talk about a «feeding place for the Canada goose.»
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Tribute to the Mi’kmaqs that the Malecite called «nation of saltwater.»
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They were going up to Fort Beauséjour, with moccasins or with snowshoes.
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Shemogue, in 1754 some Acadians settled in, but the deportation made a clean sweep.
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In 1804, the Menoudie families arrived.
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From 1939, first buccaneer of herrings in Petit-Cap with the Jacob and the Le Blanc.
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Chimougoui, abundance of seashells and natural harbour protected by the Petit-Cap on one side and the pointe-à -Comeau on the other.
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People love to dance and tease. We swear in English, it’s not a sin.
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Before becoming Bishop of Bathurst, son of the region, Camille-André Le Blanc founded in 1937, one of the first fisherman’s cooperative.
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As of the great Maurice Léger, priest in Shemogue for a long time, a real apostle from the beginning, friend of the arts, literary and history, he was known for his fine humanity.
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Shemogue, agriculture and tobacco growing, shipbuilding, lobster, smelt and scallop fishing. We can’t forget the shop workers in the lobster factories.
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In the morning dew, the smoke from the buccaneer stimulates the appetite with the herring for the Caribbean.
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Shemogue surrounded by the Red Sea; we’re only missing and Acadian Moïse to open the waters up to Saint John island with a basket made from roots of ash filled with, the Amerindian writing of the abbot Maillard.
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Shemogue, tribute to the cleverness of its people.
Bernard Dugas
Caraquet, N.B.
A native of Caraquet, New Brunswick, Bernard Dugas was among the first artists to establish his own art gallery in the region. He was also the instigator of Concept Artis, which offered art workshops for young people and adults and ran a commercial art gallery.
Over the years, he has created many sets and props for the Basque family's theater projects and has worked for many years on sets for various films made in New Brunswick.
Among his recent projects, he has worked on an impressive number of sets and displays for the Atlantic Visual Arts Festival, Caraquet en bleu, the Festival acadien de Caraquet, the Gala de la chanson de Caraquet and the Salon du livre de Shippagan, the Théâtre populaire d'Acadie, to mention only a few of the cultural organizations he has worked with.
Among his most recent projects, the creation of sculptures for the giant puppet project Les Grands Escogriffes of the Festival acadien de Caraquet and the realization of gull sculptures for the project Les Sentinelles installed at the Carrefour de la mer in Caraquet; let's also mention the realization of a decor for a youth space at the Village Historique acadien in 2021 and 2022.
Bernard Dugas also collaborated as a designer and artist in the permanent exhibition Tropisme installed at Place du Vieux Couvent in Caraquet. About ten years ago, he created the Atelier Duka, a company dedicated to the realization of decors, displays and elements of scenery.
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The work he created for the exhibition Irreducibles racines is inspired by the Mi'kmaq origin of the name "Shemogue".
In this work, we find the sinuous and luminous path of water, inscribed with force, giving rhythm to the fertile land.
Francine Francis
Première Nation
Eel Ground, N.B.
Francine Francis is a Mi’kmaq visual artist from Metepenagiag First Nation, New Brunswick. She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Aboriginal Fine Arts from the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, now known as the First Nations University in Regina, Saskatchewan.
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She has served as a Board member for the New Brunswick Arts Board, the New Brunswick Craft Council and served as a juror for the Canada Council and New Brunswick Arts Board.
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Francine has participated in group exhibitions at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, The McCains Gallery, the Moncton and Saint John Museums, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax and in Yarmouth, The Khyber Art Centre in Halifax, the Rosemont Gallery in Regina, Galerie Schloss Monchental in Germany and Deutsche Werkstaetten Hellerau, Dresden, German.
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Last year, she had a solo exhibition “Pem-ketmeneji wisisk, nmejk, jipji’k – They are starting to deplete, animals, fish, birds”, at Artcadienne Gallery at Carrefour Beausoleil, Miramichi.
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Artist Residencies include an Artist-in-School Residency at Metepenagiag Elementary School, the Metepenagiag Heritage Park,The Deanery Project “Path We Share” Artist Residency in Lower Ship Harbour, Nova Scotia and The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Yarmouth.
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Her work is in permanent collections at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, The New Brunswick Art Bank, Fredericton, New Brunswick Museum in Saint John, NB., The Province of Saskatchewan, Regina, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, Amherst, Nova Scotia, The Toronto-Dominion Bank in Fredericton, The Metepenagiag Heritage Park and the New Brunswick Community College in Miramichi, The Department of Fishery and Oceans, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
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The work she created for the exhibition Irreducibles racines is inspired by the Mi'kmaq origin of the name "Nepisiguit".
The Nepisiguit is first and foremost a majestic river, sometimes bubbling. It is a salmon river. It is a place where the artist often went with her father, when she was a child, to visit Amerindian friends who lived there.
These expeditions with her father to Nepisiguit fed her early curiosity for the life that was offered to her eyes, this life in nature.