Isabelle Tremblay

Born in 1970 in Chicoutimi, Québec, Isabelle Tremblay always exhibited a strong creative nature. As a child, she attended classes in classical and jazz ballet, figure skating, and music, all of which enabled her to explore her artistic gifts. Despite enjoying all of these interests, Tremblay decided to pursue social sciences with a special interest taken in psychology when she initially enrolled in CÉGEP. Though she enjoyed many aspects of psychology, Tremblay ended up switching into the Visual Arts programme after one year. Nonetheless, Tremblay has also not entirely abandoned her initial studies in psychology. Her art enables her to relate and connect with others through the use of symbols that frequently reoccur in her paintings. Examples include a bird to represent liberty, an egg to reflect a gift or life, and a butterfly to signify metamorphosis. All of these symbolic images are utilised to explore intimate themes and often result in surreal representations. The messages she chooses to share are perfectly expressed through her structured but softly rendered figures that appear to be frozen in time. In the end her goal is to convey ideas of hope, evolution, freedom, the divine, grandeur and grace – all qualities that are found within us that Tremblay believes are the true foundation of human nature.