Jacques Arseneault is a master engraver born in Dalhousie, New Brunswick. In 1978, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in visual arts from the Université de Moncton and in 1980, a master’s degree in visual arts from the Université de Paris VIII. He began his career teaching plastic arts at Cégep de Jonquière in 1980. The following year, he became a professor at the Université de Moncton where, from 1984 until his retirement in 2019, he assumed responsibility for engraving a section of the visual arts department of the Université de Moncton.

Jacques Arseneault is interested in the reconciliation of the written and the visual. Literature is an important source of inspiration for him and it occupies a large place in his work, as evidenced by, among other things, a series of engravings inspired by Kafka’s novels, in which a dialectical relationship is established between image and text. He was also inspired by the poems of Acadian poet Gérald Leblanc to create a series of woodcuts and large monotypes.

His multimedia works of art were exhibited first in New Brunswick, then across Canada, China, the United States and France. His exhibitions include Kafka (1985), Pair of Dice / Coup de dé (1991-1992) at Galerie Struts in Sackville and Galerie Sans Nom in Moncton and Flying Damsel (2010) at Rowen Art Gallery in University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA. In 2015, he was part of the largest exhibition of Canadian prints entitled “Resonance”: Canadian Contemporary Printmaking Exhibition, at the Shengzhi Art Center, China. In 2012, he was invited to present his work at the colloquium entitled “Roussel, hier, today”, in Cerisy-La-Salle, France.

Although remarkable, Jacques Arseneault’s contribution to the visual arts is not limited to his artistic production and his teaching. He is also a founding member of Atelier Imago, located at the Aberdeen Cultural Centre in Moncton, and has chaired the board of directors of the Galerie Sans Nom for several years. He regularly participates in fundraisers for the Galerie Sans Nom, the Imago workshop, and the Aberdeen Cultural Centre.

Jacques Arseneault’s works are part of public and private collections, including those of the New Brunswick Art Bank, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Art Gallery of the Université de Moncton, the Beaverbrook Gallery, and the Shengzhi Art Center in Beijing, China.

https://centreculturelaberdeen.com/en/acadian-artist-jacques-arseneault-to-be-honoured-at-the-2020-aberdeen-cultural-centre-auction/