GILLES PELLETIER

Place of birth: Verdun, Quebec
Place of residence: Ormstown, Quebec

Gilles Pelletier's colourful paintings adorned antique furniture, old tools, and even milk cans for many years before he illustrated his first children's book. In fact, it was an interest in collecting and restoring antiques that led him into the world of art. He first began to paint on the objects he was restoring and, from there, to dabble in sculpture, to create wooden animals (ducks, horses, pigs and cows), and to paint directly on barn wood and on canvas. Not until 1991 did he illustrate his first children's book, Une Bonne et heureuse année (by Roch Carrier, Livres Toundra). The English translation is called: A Happy New Year's Day (Tundra Books). This book was followed, in 1995, by The Sugaring-off Party (by Jonathan London, Lester Publishing). Mr. Pelletier's joyously bright paintings embrace little details of daily life, celebrate traditional values, and evoke memories of times past. Mr. Pelletier, his wife, and several cats live in Ormstown, Quebec, in a house reminiscent of the one he painted for A Happy New Year's Day.

Selected Exhibitions

• Monart Galerie Westmount (Westmount): 2-17 November 1991
  
• Alex Fraser Galleries (Vancouver): April 1995

Selected Bibliography

Une Bonne et heureuse année. Written by Roch Carrier. Montréal: Livres Toundra, c1991.
24 p.: col. ill.; 23 x 26 cm.
ISBN 0887762689

A Happy New Year's Day. Written by Roch Carrier. Montreal: Tundra Books, c1991.
24 p.: col. ill.; 23 x 26 cm.
ISBN 0887762670
(English edition of Une Bonne et heureuse année)

The Sugaring-off Party. Written by Jonathan London. Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995.
32 p.: col. ill.; 26 x 29 cm.
ISBN 1895555841