Ron Morel Memorial Museum
Kapuskasing
Ontario
Feature Collection
Maurice Gaudreault
Artist and Storyteller
The collection entitled “I Still Remember” is comprised of 37 sculptures and was created in a mere 10 months.
His next collection, entitled “The One Called Jesus”, tells the story of the life of Christ, from the Annunciation to the Ascension.
Throughout his career as a sculptor, Maurice created in excess of 1500 sculptures. When he passed away on August 11, 2000, sales of his sculptures were halted. His remaining sculptures are in museums and in the hands of private collectors
Maurice Gaudreault
Maurice Gaudreault was born in 1932 in Moonbeam, Ontario, to a Québécois father and an American mother. When he was young, his family moved to Timmins where he went to school.
Like many of his generation, he left school at age fourteen and headed for the logging camps with an uncle to try his hand at all sorts of jobs. He later worked for Spruce Falls at a variety of jobs.
In 1959, Maurice took up farming and then he was a Dairy Inspector for the Ministry of Agriculture from 1967 to 1976.
In 1976, Maurice decided to return to his family’s pioneer roots. He built himself a log home on the banks of Wellington Creek, east of Fauquier, and he devoted himself entirely to his sculptures.
Instead of writing books, Maurice chose clay as his medium to convey the simple story of the men and women of this land. He saw himself as a storyteller, continuing in the tradition of French-Canadian illustrators like E.J. Massicotte and Henri Julien, who greatly inspired him.
From his rich memories, Maurice created scenes of everyday life of the pioneers who cleared this wintry country, this unconquerable land of northern Ontario.
