Biography
Born in Montreal and now based in the Eastern Townships, Manon Potvin has pursued an artistic practice for more than twenty years, deeply rooted in the exploration of the human experience. A painter and author, she has developed a distinctive universe she describes as allegorical realism, where the precision of reality is combined with the power of imagination.
Guided by inspiration, intuition, and a richly fertile imagination, she creates works imbued with symbolism that invite the viewer on an inner journey. Through both painting and writing, she seeks to reveal the unseen dimensions of human experience, giving form to emotions, archetypes, and the landscapes of the subconscious.
Manon Potvin’s artistic journey has unfolded outside traditional academic pathways. Her training is, above all, the result of a personal quest.
Today, her work is distinguished by an aesthetic that is both realistic and dreamlike, where each piece becomes a space for reflection, contemplation, and dialogue between the visible world and the realms of the unconscious.
Artist’s Statement
Artist Manon Potvin’s work is rooted in the Surrealist movement. She approaches her art through allegorical realism. Working in oil paint, she creates paintings that transport us into striking atmospheres through masterful drawing and perspectives that elevate the subject. At times set within vast spaces, at others within intimate structures, her works are always bathed in a play of light that touches the soul.
Drawing from a fantastical imagination, the artist invites us to contemplate these landscapes of the soul, overflowing with life and serenity. Free from the control of reason and beyond conventional patterns of thought, she allows us to enter her intimate world.
Nature, an inexhaustible source of inspiration, is her preferred subject. Within it, she observes that everything seems to unfold according to a perfect order, governed by an infallible law. It is this heightened level of activity and ever-present intelligence that she seeks to make visible in her paintings. Her works are the result of a dialogue with the living world, to which they also pay tribute. This dialogue is so deeply present that it also takes the form of poetic prose, which the artist delights in composing to accompany each work.
Her paintings transport us into a world of mystery, unpredictability, beauty, poetry, and enchantment. Time and space disappear, giving way to free imagination and to each viewer’s own inner world. This perspective, and the mental space it creates, stimulates the mind and heightens our sensitivity and receptiveness to inspiration and innovative ideas.
Much like the thinkers of quantum physics who advocate for a plurality of realities, Manon Potvin’s works invite us to see the world from an entirely different perspective and to recognize that we stand before an infinite range of possibilities, from which we are all creators.
C.V.
Education
Manon Potvin has followed an unconventional path, developing her skills through meaningful encounters and diverse experiences. One of the most influential was her meeting with painter Jean-Pierre Neveu, who introduced her to oil painting. She also pursued ongoing training with Concept Image Ça on the power of thought and the subconscious mind, which had a profound influence on her artistic practice.
Academic Training
| 2014 | Career Management for Artists training |
| 2012 – 2020 | Ongoing training in visual arts and literature with the Conseil de la culture des arts de l’Estrie, RAAV, and Artxterra |
| 1989 – 1991 | Interior Design Technology, Cégep du Vieux Montréal |
Solo exhibitions
| 2025 | Solo exhibition, Immex Real Estate Company, King Street, Sherbrooke |
| 2025 | Solo exhibition, Centre culturel Le Parvis, Sherbrooke |
| 2024 | Solo exhibition, Cité du Parc, Immex, Jacques-Cartier Street, Sherbrooke |
| 2021 | Solo exhibition, État d’âme nature, Centre d’interprétation du Marais de la Rivière aux Cerises, Magog, Quebec |
| 2020 | Solo exhibition, La mer veille et m’enchante, Musée acadien du Québec, Bonaventure |
| 2017 | Solo exhibition, Ascension, Victoriaville, Quebec |
| 2017 | Duo exhibition with painter Jean-Pierre Neveu, Visions Parallèles, Société d’art et d’histoire de Beauport, Quebec |
| 2015 | Solo exhibition, Murmure Sylvestre – Espace Mur-Mur des Arts, City of Brossard – Musée Beaulne, Coaticook |
| 2014 | Solo exhibition, Murmure Sylvestre, Centre d’interprétation du Marais de Magog, presented as part of the Flambée des couleurs, September–October |
| 2014 | Exhibition, Réalités parallèles, Centre culturel Yvonne L. Bombardier, January–April |
| 2011 | Solo exhibition at the LAMRAC Interpretive Centre in Magog during its official opening in May 2011. |
| 2003 – 2026 | Open Studio, Circuit des Arts Memphrémagog |
Group exhibitions
| 2024 | Woodland Imaginaire exhibition, Lennoxville Library, Sherbrooke Art Gallery 234, Sherbrooke |
| 2022 | Imaginaire exhibition, Cookshire-Eaton Art Gallery |
| 2016 | État d’Art 16, Beauport |
| 2015 | Salon des Arts visuels de Brossard |
| 2011 | Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, Sherbrooke office, exhibition Gala-Competition of the Cercle des artistes peintres et sculpteurs du Québec Fondation CSSS Memphrémagog |
| 2010 | Rencontre des Arts, November 2010 |
| 2003 – 2026 | Circuit des Arts Memphrémagog, Centre d’arts visuels de Magog |
Grants, awards and recognition
| 2026 | 2026 Honorary Distinction — Incandescence — FAME FRAME Gallery |
| 2025 | Gold Medal — Fréquence d’âme — Mondial Art Academia |
| 2025 | Honourable Mention — Ortus, Surrealism and Symbolism category — Mondial Art Academia |
| 2025 | People’s Choice Award — Circuit des Arts Memphrémagog |
| 2025 | Honourable Mention — Ortus — Slavin Fine Art Gallery |
| 2024 | Peer Recognition Award — Artistes en fête, Sainte-Flavie |
| 2024 | Winner, Bas-Saint-Laurent/Gaspésie Artwork Award — Artistes en fête, Sainte-Flavie |
| 2024 | Award of Excellence — Émergence Québec Magazine |
| 2023 | Peers’ Choice Award — Weekend des Arts, Port-Daniel–Gascons |
| 2022 | Honourable Mention — Grey Cube Gallery, Forests and Meadows competition |
| 2022 | Honourable Mention, Mondial Art Academia Selection — Mondial Art Academia |
| 2021 | Bronze Medal — Surrealism and Symbolism — Mondial Art Academia |
| 2021 | People’s Choice Award — Circuit des Arts Memphrémagog |
| 2021 | Honourable Mention — Surrealism and Symbolism — Mondial Art Academia |
| 2020 | Second and third place — American Art Awards, Fantasy Landscape category |
| 2019 | Appointed Quebec Ambassador by Mondial Art Academia |
| 2018 | Bronze Medal — Surrealism and Symbolism — Mondial Art Academia |
| 2018 | People’s Choice Award — Circuit des Arts Memphrémagog |
| 2018 | Third Jury Prize — Expressionism/Other category — American Art Awards |
| 2017 | Appointed Academic Knight by Mondial Art Academia |
| 2017 | First Jury Prize — Expressionism/Other category — American Art Awards |
| 2017 | First Jury Prize — Fantasy Landscape category — American Art Awards |
| 2017 | Finalist — National Painting Competition, Rêves d’automne, Baie-Saint-Paul |
| 2016 | Appointed Master of Fine Arts by the Académie internationale des beaux-arts du Québec |
| 2015 | Second Jury Prize — Fantasy Landscape category — American Art Awards |
| 2015 | Painting Merit Award presented by the jury at the Salon des Arts de Brossard |
| 2014 | Inducted as a Signature Member of the Institut des arts figuratifs (IAF) |
| 2011 | Gold Medal — CAPSQ Gala-Competition, Montreal |
Professional memberships and community involvement
| 2024 – 2026 | Professional member of RAAV, (Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels du Québec) |
| 2023 | Conference at Austin Town Hall for the Austin artists’ association: Imaginaire ou réalité? |
| 2022 | Appointed Officer Member of Mondial Art Academia |
| 2020 – 2021 | Jury member for the Waterloo Symposium |
| 2020 – 2021 | Commissioned artwork for the cover of a young adult novel by author Louise Desautels, as part of a suicide-prevention project in Quebec schools |
| 2020 – 2021 | Co-host of ten television programs introducing artists from the Memphrémagog Regional County Municipality on Nous.tv Cogeco |
| 2020 – 2021 | Host of ten monthly segments featuring professional visual artists on Nous.tv Cogeco |
| 2019 | Quebec Ambassador for Mondial Art Academia |
| 2017 – 2020 | President of the Board of Directors of the Circuit des Arts Memphrémagog |
| 2015 | Boreal forest conservation campaign — Greenpeace, Art Boréal — finalist artwork, Les nains de pins |
| 2015 | Conference at the Centre culturel Yvonne L. Bombardier for the public and school groups |
| 2014 – 2025 | Member of the Institut des arts figuratifs (IAF) |
| 2014 – 2016 | Painting workshops offered to the public |
| 2014 | Jury member for the selection of artists exhibiting at the Centre d’interprétation du Marais de Magog |
| 2012 – 2017 | Member of the Académie internationale des beaux-arts du Québec |
| 2011 | Member of the Cercle des artistes peintres et sculpteurs du Québec |
| 2010 – 2020 | Fondation du Centre de santé et de services sociaux Memphrémagog |
| 2010 – 2011 | Painting workshop for École secondaire La Ruche in Magog |
| 2006 – 2020 | Member of the Board of Directors of the Circuit des Arts Memphrémagog |
