As a kid, she walked freely along the cliffs and beaches of Bassin. With her father's camera in hand, she quickly developed a thirst for the sense of freedom and confidence that emanates from great open spaces. Taking close-up pictures of seashells and starfish was a sure way to fall for the beauty in the world. The artist she was bound to become grew on these many strolls upwind. France Painchaud, sculpted by the Magdalen Islands, carries in her veins the values she grew up with.
When her father worried about seeing her leaving, she simply answered that she had to travel to know what to do with her life. Sure enough, jewelry-making was waiting for her in a small Mexican village. The discovery led to five years of back-and-forth between the South, escaping the cold months to learn the ropes of this trade by herself under the sun, and the summers spent back on the Maggies, selling her precious-metal creations next to her car on La Grave.
Embolden with a thirst for more, she then enrolled in the École de joaillerie de Montréal to perfect her technique and gain the freedom to recreate exactly what she had in mind. Eager to use this newfound knowledge, she finally headed back to the Magdalen Islands, where her heart had always felt at home.
Constantly chasing freedom and eager to chart her own path, she opened her first boutique on La Grave - at the time, the place was so small that no more than three customers could fit inside simultaneously. Some twenty years later, the place has grown, and a second location is now opened on the Chemin du Quai. On the second floor of this second boutique now lives an art gallery, where France can finally invite her artist friends to exhibit their work.
France is a generous artist, longing to share the beauty she sees everywhere. It's a sentiment that gets passed on right away with one step inside the delightful spaces she's created. Visual arts coexist harmoniously with her seaside jewelry. Everything is bright, open, in its place - nothing disagrees with the elegance of the place. Counters are filled with gleaming starfish, mussels and sand dollars, delicate treasures she created, polished and assembled in her workshop with her father and her valuable allies.
To know the Magdalen Islands is to fall in love. France knows it well, and that's why her greatest joy is to know that the visitors leaving with one of her creations also get a lasting reminder of the freedom and the beauty they experienced while strolling down the beach.
Discover Émerance - Espace Solo
