© Raphaël Thibodeau
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The premise in itself is quite uncommon: a visual artist who paints with fire buys a house on Blackwood Street and builds his studio using burnt wood cladding.
The BLACKWOOD studio is the outcome of a long history that began several years ago with a meeting with Steven Spazuk, a unique visual artist who paints with fire. Steven wanted to free himself from the space constraints of his cramped studio set up in the attic of his home in Léry, on the shores of Lake Saint-Louis.
A first version of the studio project was designed there and was set up in the backyard. Since the use of “artist studios” was prohibited for accessory buildings in that municipality, it was out of the question for the artist to carry out his creations on the sly in a “garage.” His desire for assertion and creation could not be expressed in such a place.
Additionally, the bedrock and constraints of the initial site soon made construction costs spiral upward. What is the point of living off your artwork when in order to pay your mortgage you need to return to the job you left behind to dedicate yourself to the art of creation? This marks the beginning of the search for a construction site for a house and studio. The location sought after would include an immense wooded area frequented by birds.
