In her installation project, Fragments, Zoé Fortier explores the exodus of cultural minority group members and its effects. Using traditional animation and multimedia, Fragments examines the cultural relationships that exist, despite the scattering of group members.

During her residency, Élize Fulkerson will pursue her 3D animation research in order to develop a series of unique characters and environments. The artist will focus on the modeling of various elements of animation.

Premier pas falls under the umbrella of the Projet de formation en multimédia, a partnership between La Maison des artistes visuels francophones (MDA) in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, and OBORO in Montreal. This three-year project consists in developing and putting into place events geared towards education, dissemination and professionalization as they relate to artistic growth and criticism in the Multimedia Communications program at the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface. This year, artist Valérie Lamontagne, representative of the OBORO artist centre, led workshops for students and gave a public talk at MAWA (Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art). After finishing their studies, artists Zoé Fortier and Elize Fulkerson will undertake two residencies at OBORO (September 2009 and January 2010) in order to work on projects, which will subsequently be presented at MDA.

Zoé Fortier, an emerging visual artist, is from the small francophone community of Zénon Park in Saskatchewan. The plains of her childhood greatly influenced her first artistic explorations. She studied Political Science at the University of Ottawa before moving to Manitoba where she is now about to graduate with a degree in Multimedia Communications from the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface in Winnipeg. She hopes to pursue a career as an artist and illustrator.

A native of Winnipeg, Elize Fulkerson is a graduate of the Multimedia Communications program of the Technical and Professional division of the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface. She has always liked expressing herself artistically through technology. She has also often worked with people, allowing her to discover new techniques, ideas, and solutions. She dreams of traveling, and participating in artist residencies, in order to broaden her areas of knowledge.