Huot, Jean-Pierre

My passion for nature provides me with the majority of the subjects for my projects. This allows me to give movement to matter which otherwise would not have any.

My first contact with the art world was through photography. What was for me an agreeable hobby became over the years a veritable passion. My greatest wish was to be able to make a living from this form of art and that wish came true in 1977 with the opening of my photography studio. I pursued this profession until 1985 when I was offered a promising career in the sports world on an international level. In order to fulfill this commitment effectively, it was necessary to sell my business.

A new job would offer me the chance to discover a form of art which had previously been unknown to me. I exchanged my cameras for a drawing table and some sculpting knives. For the next three decades I committed myself to faithfully reproduce objects, animals and birds which my clients wanted me to do. Photography had made me very sensitive to the importance of composition; sculpture introduced me to a third dimension. It was incredibly satisfying to be able to create a hummingbird or a blue jay from a block of material. As the years of projects went by, I was able to improve my technique and to really appreciate this form of creative work.

I come from a mining region where rocks and stones are part of the environment. I was able to buy a beautiful steatite rock in 1985 with the idea of sculpting a polar bear. However, because of many moves abroad due to my job, this rock had to wait for my retirement before I could make the first cut. At this time when the fragility of our planet is foremost in our conscience, I like to think that the material that I work with dates from a million years ago. It is difficult for me to properly express how fascinating it is for me to discover all the subtleties that a rock acquires over time and to see all the nuances revealed when it is polished.

My passion for nature provides me with the majority of the subjects for my projects. This allows me to give movement to matter which otherwise would not have any. In December 2019, my first solo exhibition allowed me to show the majority of my work to a large public audience. This type of event provides positive motivation for the future and for the more audacious projects which await me in my workshop.