Montebello - A Picturesque Walk
Centre d’action culturelle de la MRC de Papineau/Centre d’exposition Napoléon-Bourassa
Activities
A crossroads of art and creativity
Located in the heart of the village of Montebello, the Napoléon-Bourassa Exhibition Centre is a vibrant space dedicated to visual arts and fine crafts. Four exhibitions are presented each year, showcasing the talent of professional and emerging artists from near and far. Each visit invites discovery, reflection, and emotion in a bright, inspiring space that is free to access and fully accessible to people with reduced mobility.
The Centre also houses La Fouinerie, a unique boutique featuring original creations by artisans and artists who are members of the Centre d’action culturelle. Jewelry, ceramics, textiles, and works on paper—each piece tells a story and celebrates local craftsmanship.
To round out the experience, visitors can explore the Livres Libres library, a collection of creative journals produced by the community, and discover the Symposiums d’art in situ, a striking public art trail spread across seven municipalities in the MRC de Papineau: Papineauville, Ripon, Thurso, Plaisance, Val-des-Bois, Namur, and Duhamel.
Current Exhibition
"12-Pack" byMyriam Simard Parent
Emerging sculptor featured from June 6 to September 6, 2026.
"12 pack"links everyday consumer behaviors to woodworking. Through her sculptures, Myriam Simard Parent explores our relationship with objects, materials, and overconsumption. Wood, a natural material transformed by humans, embodies a daily life marked by the production, accumulation, and depletion of resources.
The artist evokes a familiar world, yet one tinged with unease, where matter becomes a metaphor for an overwhelming daily life. It acts as a mirror of our rhythms of life and our habits, oscillating between a thirst for consumption and a loss of control.
Made from local wood species and recycled wood, the pieces are created primarily using direct carving, woodturning, and assembly techniques.
Free admission
Myriam Simard Parent
(Montreal)
Myriam Simard Parent is a visual artist who works in wood sculpture. She earned a master’s degree in sculpture and ceramics from Concordia University in 2023. Her work has recently been exhibited at Caravansérail (Rimouski), CIRCA art actuel (Montreal), and Adélard (Frelighsburg).
She creates her works using traditional craft techniques such as direct carving, woodturning, and various assembly techniques. Through a stylized approach infused with humor, she depicts and reinterprets elements drawn from her daily life or her memories: clothing, food, and animals.
Through his work, wood becomes a space for reflection on our relationship with objects, living beings, popular culture, and the place they occupy in our identities.
Myriam is one of the first group of six emerging artists from Quebec to participate in the “Habiter le MAC” residency at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.
Site-Specific Art in Petite Nation
Every two years, art comes to life outdoors in the villages of Petite Nation. The site-specific art symposium, coordinated by the Centre d’exposition Napoléon-Bourassa, invites the public to discover professional artists at work right in the heart of the host village. Inspired by the identity of the place, the creations take shape before visitors’ eyes and enrich the region’s cultural landscape in a lasting way.
