DUPRE – Nearly every day, in an unsuspecting community, an unsuspecting man quietly makes his way from his home down a short path to an old chicken shed that has been converted into an art studio where he creates small-scale masterpieces.
Well, not every piece of work is a masterpiece, and Pierre Bataillard, a 78-year-old Dupre resident, would be the first person to tell you why a piece either works or it doesn’t.
“Very pedestrian. Nothing to get too excited about,” he said flipping through one of his sketch books. “This flow is better. It's punchier than that one is, see?”
It is Bataillard’s critical eye and commitment to the craft that sets him apart from what he describes as recreational artists.
“It’s like anything else, you start at the beginning. There are two ways of doing art. The one is recreational. So, you do it because it's relaxing, and you're quite pleased because suddenly you're able to do flowers, and then you do more and more flowers and you like it... Or you're a professional and you challenge yourself. Now I have done flowers. What happens if I do trees? How do I do that? And then you carry on and you have evolved.”
Bataillard’s abstract creations are both seemingly spontaneous while controlled. He describes his style of work as “gestural,” and his preferred subjects are the things around him.
“I like to say I'm a seasonal artist. In the summer I do landscapes, in the winter I do still lifes,” he explained.
Viewing his creations made predominately with watercolour or oil, wax and chalk pastels, takes both time and contemplation as they range from the mildly abstract to the extremely abstract.
“The problem with gestural, it works or it does not work. It’s good or it's no good,” he said, adding the key is to know what art consists of.
"Then you can ask, does it have all the elements? Does it cover the paper well? Is the focal point interesting? Do you really see a focal point or is everything wishy washy? You have to know those things – Now, whether you like it or not, that's immaterial.”
Whether or not others enjoy or even understand his art, doesn’t really interest Bataillard. He is only concerned with the integrity of each piece and whether it can stand on its own merit.
“If everybody likes it, I wouldn’t like it,” he said in earnest. “What chances are you taking then? Nothing. Why play it safe?”
And yet, the Dupre artist still finds himself catching the eyes of curators and visitors of the Art Gallery of St. Albert.
In July of 2022, Bataillard was selected as the gallery’s Artist of the Month, with his artwork getting a special feature over the summer.
Bataillard has been involved with the St. Albert gallery for many years. His work has been exhibited and sold by the gallery, and he has even been invited to instruct a course. A huge feat for someone who has never had formal education in the arts.
Born and raised in Switzerland, Bataillard moved to Canada in 1967 where he would meet his wife Ann, a piano teacher. They moved to Alberta and raised two daughters.
From the time Bataillard was a young boy, he felt the pull of creativity. He said, you don’t become an artist, “It’s in you.”
However, that doesn’t mean his pursuit of art was always easy. “I remember being discouraged twice at school for my art,” he said.
“The first one, I remember I was in Grade 3 and the teacher gave us an assignment. They wanted stick people – well I could do better than that, so I put full-flesh people.”
Bataillard’s assignment was marked down for not adhering to the assignment. About three years later, a different teacher would look over his assignment and tell him, “’You're not good at colour, don't bother with them.’ And then I never touched colour since. I did everything on black and white paper and with pencil.”
Decades later, Batillard’s wife would buy him a set of watercolours. Now, when looking around Batillard’s studio, it is hard to find a single piece that lacks vibrant hues of colour.
The studio also hides clues to another life.
Decades worth of drawings and paintings are neatly rolled up and tucked away. Everything is in its place and only the essentials are laid out on Bataillard’s work bench. In a way, it seems incongruent with an artistic lifestyle, but makes perfect sense for someone who has spent decades at a drafting table.
To make a living, Bataillard channeled his creative abilities into his profession as an architectural draftsman, which would eventually lead him to the Town of Bonnyville.
Bataillard was offered the opportunity to run a new branch for the architectural firm he worked for about 46 years ago. The family relocated from Calgary and began putting down roots in the community.
Despite the enjoyment he had for the craft, when Bataillard left his job in architecture he was excited to finally focus on his real passion.
“It enabled me to go full time into art. And if you think there is money in art – there is not,” he said with a laugh.
For years afterwards, Bataillard would continue to do some architecture on the side as his wife continued to teach, but the creative passion for drafting felt even more grey compared to his art.
“People are not very daring in their thinking... they are very traditional,” he said, reflecting on his work in architecture.
The works Bataillard spends his days creating now are entirely his own vision.
“The entire thing is myself,” he said. “You don't do it consciously.”
