Fleury, Cj (1956)

Cj Fleury holds degrees from Concordia University, the University of Ottawa and the Lake Placid School of Art. Among the goals of her numerous projects for the integration of art into architecture is increasing general awareness of contemporary art and even involving the broader public in its creation. These objectives are embodied by The Mechanics of Gauging a Trade, which stands in front of the Ottawa Municipal Workshops. Completed during an artist residency, the sculpture came together through collaborations with various workers in the city and was featured in a video chronicling each stage in its development. Equally representative of fleury’s work is an installation in Ottawa comprising fifteen sculptures: occupying a two-kilometre stretch of Preston Street, the series highlights diverse aspects of the city’s Italian-Canadian presence and was the result of a comprehensive dialogue between this community and the artist. Whether in the field of sculpture, drawing, writing or performance, fleury is drawn primarily to “community art” – an interdisciplinary and socially engaged practice that explores not only where art is created, but also the acts of exchanging with and working alongside others. L’Enfant Monumentale, for example, a sculpture at the École des Cépages primary school in Gatineau, features fifty-two student drawings at its base.