Every year, the Great Autumn Exhibition presents a unique artistic universe where the visual arts unfold. Our vast indoor and outdoor spaces allow artists to create immersive experiences. Each imagined space conveys messages that visitors can fully embrace.
Everything can be art.
A fascinating major autumn exhibition
The paper Cathedral
9 OCTOBER TO 15 NOVEMBER, 2026
The Sutton Art School is being transformed into a ‘Paper Cathedral’ by the sculptor Horta Van Hoye.
Horta Van Hoye at the Sutton School of Art
From 9 October to 15 November 2026, the Sutton School of Art devotes its Great Autumn Exhibition to sculptor Horta Van Hoye. For more than thirty years, the artist has recycled the leftover paper rolls once used to print newspapers — a material she shapes and sculpts until faces, memory and a genuine humanity emerge from it.
Born in Belgium, trained as a sculptor and an artistic gymnastics champion at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. She has shown her work in 18 countries before settling in Quebec.
In Sutton, sculptures, installations and performances form a journey that astonishes adults and children alike.
The public can meet the artist during her open studio residency starting 29 August, then at the opening on 9 October.
The Great Autumn Exhibition is open Friday through Sunday, from 10 am to 4 pm.
2026 CALENDER OF EVENTS
Oct. 9, 2026, 5.00 pm
Opening
The paper Cathedral
Horta van Hoye
A gigantic, ephemeral work exploring human fragility.
A retrospective spanning 60 years of work.
Free
Oct. 11, 2026 2 pm
Performance
The Conference of the Birds
Juulie Rousseau
Inspired by the famous 13th-century poetic tale by the Sufi master Farid ud-Din Attar.
Singer-songwriter and creator of this work, Juulie Rousseau invites you to sing and whistle along with her. Her deep, spellbinding voice transports you to a timeless realm, somewhere between the East, the West and the world of birds.
Oct. 17,. 2026, 5.00 pm
Meet the artist
Horta Van Hoye
Screening of an excerpt from *Histoires de Visages*, accompanied by a piano improvisation by Serge-André Jones
Oct. 18, 2026 2 pm
Film screening
La Sagrada Familia, Gaudí’s Living Dream
Directed by Nathalie Laville
France Télévision 2026, 51 mins.
In Barcelona, this church – the longest-running construction project in modern history – is finally being completed after more than 140 years. Faith, nature and innovation intertwine here to resonate with audiences of all backgrounds.
Oct. 24, 2026 11 am
Performance
Sutton Polyphonic Choir
Conducted by Michaël Dumais
Corsican and Georgian songs, often passed down from generation to generation and by word of mouth. The voices intertwine and echo one another, creating a rich and emotionally charged sound.
Oct. 25, 2026 2 pm
Film screening
The Colour of Ink (NFB)
Directed by Brian D. Johnson
NFB 2022, 1 hour 30 mins.
Toronto-based ink maker Jason S. Logan harvests colours from wild weeds, berries, bark, flowers, rocks and rust to send bespoke inks to artists around the world, from a New York cartoonist to a Tokyo-based calligrapher.
Oct. 31, 2026 2 pm to 4:30 pm
Workshop for adults
Horta Van Hoye
An invitation to a creative adventure and a theatrical exploration using paper.
Nov. 7, 2026 2 pm
Concert
Quatre – An immersive sound journey
Composition, artistic and sound direction, double bass
Christophe Papadimitriou, accordion, marimba Luzio Altobelli, viola, Oud Omar Abou Afach
Blending acoustic music, the sounds of nature and the latest technologies in spatial sound design, the musical work *Quatre* invites you to experience the living world in a new way through the cycle of the seasons.
Nov. 15, 2026 2 pm
Closing Ball
Vicki Tansey and Horta Van Hoye
An invitation to the exhibition’s closing event, featuring music and dance alongside a paper figure. For those interested, there will be an opportunity to purchase a figure, with proceeds going to the Sutton School of Art.
ARCHIVES 2025
A word from the curator
Être vivace
An artistic dialogue bringing together various practices, including sculpture, photography, engraving, weaving and installation, around one question: What does it mean to be resilient?
A production by the Sutton School of Art, supported by a collective of artists from the Brome-Missisquoi region: Héloïse Audy, Pascale Bussières, Jean-François Casabonne, Sarah Cobb, Jacinthe De Guire, Éliane Excoffier, and Audrey Murray.
To be resilient or dance with the cycles?
If birth responds to death and blossoming converses with decay, does not all this compose the great fabric of life?
Stones hold memories, plants offer their seasons, animals call to the spirit of our bodies, and we move forward together in this fertile cycle.
This curatorship is above all a profoundly collective experience. All the artists became co-creators of the exhibition, in a spirit of exchange, generosity and extraordinary commitment. We shaped this exhibition together, and a real community spirit emerged from these encounters.
The artists gathered here each bear witness in their own way: through arranged stone, moulded plaster, interwoven fabric, captured light, and magnified plants. Their works open passages, awaken seeds, and celebrate rebirths.
I believe that being resilient means putting down roots in the present, branching out into otherness and blossoming together — even in the midst of storms.
– Jasmine Catudal, curator
Jasmine Catudal
Photo: Martin Laporte
At the heart of the collective: the artists
Héloïse Audy
Photo: Martin Laporte
Héloïse Audy
A professor at Cégep Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Héloïse Audy graduated with a degree in visual arts and art history from the University of Montreal (2002) and holds a master's degree in studio arts, fibres, from Concordia University (2009). Her practice combines weaving, basketry and sculpture. Her works have been exhibited in Canada, Argentina and Norway, and she has received several creative and travel grants.
Pascale Bussières
Photo: Martin Laporte
Pascale Bussières
An actress for over forty years, Pascale Bussières has also pursued a career in the visual arts. Trained in film at Concordia University, she explores photography and printing techniques, particularly cyanotype. For the past ten years, she has been developing a textile and sculptural practice, moving from paper to thread, in a quest for dialogue between materials and forms.
Jean-François Casabonne
Photo: Martin Laporte
Jean-François Casabonne
In addition to being an actor, writer and songwriter, Jean-François Casabonne has added sculptor to his list of accomplishments. Although this remains a small, independent workshop, the world of minerals captivates him and makes him a joyful apprentice sculptor at all hours of the day. This new quest leads him to believe that Nature creates art with him, and not the other way around.
Sarah Cobb
Photo: Martin Laporte
Sarah Cobb
Based in Abercorn since 2003, Sarah Cobb has worked as a typographer, researcher, web designer and carpenter. A multi-talented artist, she explores various mediums — bronze, plaster, wax — through an intuitive and embodied approach. His sculptural practice, centred on the human body and the memory of movement, questions the trace, absence and continuity of life.
Jacinthe De Guire
Photo: Martin Laporte
Jacinthe De Guire
Jacinthe De Guire is a curator at the City of Montreal's Design Office and a visual artist who has been working in the fields of art, design and architecture for over twenty-five years. Her intuitive approach explores material, texture and gesture. Her works, both abstract and evocative, immerse the viewer in worlds that inspire contemplation and introspection.
Éliane Excoffier
Photo: Martin Laporte
Éliane Excoffier
A visual artist from Quebec based in Sutton, Éliane Excoffier has been practising photography for over twenty-five years. A graduate in visual arts and art history from the University of Montreal, she has exhibited her work in Canada and abroad. Her works are included in several public and private collections, including those of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. She also creates public artworks as part of the arts integration in architecture programme.
Audrey Murray
Photo: Martin Laporte
Audrey Murray
Based in Sutton since 2015, Audrey Murray has been developing an artistic practice centred on herbariums, which she has been exploring for fifteen years. Her work has been exhibited in various contexts in Quebec, including Parcours botanique, Rencontres botaniques et Soyons vivaces. At the same time, she pursues a career as a director of public institutions and sits on several boards of directors.
2025 Program
From 10 October to 16 November 2025
Opening on 17 October at 5.30pm — Free admission
At all times
Friday to Sunday | 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. | general admission $10
Art lab. Café-bar. Specialised library
Come explore, create and relax in the cultural forest of the exhibition Être vivace.
Calendar of events
developed in partnership with D’Arts et de rêves
Saturday, 11 October, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Botanical Printing Level 2
Workshop by Marie-Les-Bains
This workshop is aimed at people who have a basic knowledge of botanical printing but would like to develop their techniques further. Among other things, we will explore printing with ‘blankets’, i.e. with blankets for applying colours, tannin or iron.
Cost $175
Sunday, 12 October, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Plant printing using stencils
Workshop by Marie-Les-Bains
A creative workshop to discover plant dyeing by printing patterns with dye plants on fabric and paper.
No reservation required
Friday, 17 October, starting at 5:30 p.m.
Opening: Être Vivace
In the presence of the artists and the curator
Meetings with artists, a grand celebration around the exhibition Être vivace.
No reservation required
Saturday, 18 October, 2 p.m.
Nadkina
Lecture by Michel Durand-Nolet
A W8banaki testimony about life in the forest, the use of plants and their current importance in indigenous practices.
No reservation required
Friday, 24 October, from 5 p.m.
Residency completion by Faustine Escoffier, artist
Transformed invasive plants, art, nature and reflection
Outside the walls, at D’Arts et de rêves
No reservation required
Saturday, 25 October, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Lisière: poetry and geography of Japanese knotweed
Presentation, reading and discussion with Romy Craig-Maheu
No reservation required
Sunday, 26 October, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Plant stamping workshop and autumn crowns
Workshop by Véronik Bélanger, art therapist
Creating beautiful plant prints using gouache and designing unique autumn crowns.
For all the family, big and small
No reservation required
Sunday, 26 October, from 2pm to 4pm
My beloved nettle
Workshop by Faustine Escoffier, artist
Exploring the fibrous properties of nettles and learning how to transform them into materials, rope and thread.
Registration required, limited places available
Cost $40 + taxes (includes admission to The Great Exhibition)
Sunday, 2 November, from 1:30 pm to 2:45 pm
Collecting the language of the herbarium
Cross-cultural encounter between Louise Warren, poet and essayist, and Audrey Murray, artist
No reservation required
Sunday, 2 November, from 3:15 pm to 4:30 pm
The Perennials Workshop
Workshop with Louise Warren, poet and essayist, focusing on her innovative project of 99 poetic cards entitled Vivaces. A moment of shared reading and interpretation, where life and poetry are intimately linked.
Registration required, limited places available
Cost $40 + taxes (includes admission to The Great Exhibition)
Thursday, 6 November, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (doors open at 5.30 p.m.)
Geographies of Solitude
Screening of the award-winning documentary by Canadian director Jacquelyn Mills. Co-presented by the Soirées des possibles of the Fiducie foncière du mont Pinacle, followed by a discussion.
Upon registration
Cost 10$ + taxes (includes access to The Great Exhibition)
Friday, 14 November, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Circle of Life: Perspectives from Earth by Alessandro Pignocchi
Citizen reading circle dedicated to the essential question of life. In the face of current crises, this circle offers a space for collective reflection to imagine new ways of inhabiting the world.
Outside the walls, at D’Arts et de rêves
No reservation required
Sunday, 16 November, from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Between art and agriculture: The society of plants
Lecture by Patrice Fortier, seed producer and artist, on the artistic approach at the heart of the La société des plantes project.
No reservation required
Sunday, 16 November, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Closing event
In the company of the artists and curator of Être vivace, a moment to celebrate and meet the artists featured in the exhibition.
No reservation required
Our partners
of the Great Autumn Exhibition 2025
Archives 2024
Come and discover the current exhibitions. Open on Sundays during the summer, as well as during the Open Days on 27, 28, and 29 September 2024.
Exhibition of collective works from the 2024 arts camp season
Vernissages every Friday during the summer from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Exhibition during the Open Days on 27, 28 and 29 September 2024
Stroll through the indoor and outdoor spaces of the site to admire original works created by children and meet the artist-educators of the summer season, who will be delighted to accompany you on your visit.
Plant exhibition at Le Rizen Farm
Sundays, from 21 June to 29 September 2024
Exhibition during the Open Days on 27, 28 and 29 September 2024
Asian vegetables presented by market gardener Stéphanie Wang and Le Rizen
Architecture exhibition ‘Lab-École Le Zénith’
Fridays and Sundays during the summer until 29 September 2024
Exclusive installation “Le Lab-École le Zénith” by Pelletier de Fontenay, in collaboration with the Maison de l'architecture du Québec.
Exhibition by Peter Schumann
Fridays and Sundays during the summer until 29 September 2024
Upcoming dates for a special collaboration with the Bread and Puppet Theatre
Discover three original banners painted by this American artist based in Vermont, founder of the Bread and Puppet Theatre.