Danièlle was born the ninth child of French River pioneers Amèdèe Langlois and Dorcina Clement, homesteaders from Quèbec. She grew up on a farm where she developed a great love of nature and strong sense of independence. Her marriage at an early age led to the birth of 6 children that she was forced to raise on her own after her husband died. With no financial resources, she cared for her children and managed to train as a nurse. But the struggle left little time to pursue her life-long love of art until after the children were fully grown. The struggle of life taught her much that would help her later when she had a chance to pick up a paint brush. In fact it was the accidental death of her 3-and-a-half-year-old son that turned her attention to art as a means to hide her sorrow.
Early oil-on-canvas works, reminiscent of the paintings of Tom Thompson with whom she shared a love of nature, gave her a chance to express emotion with brilliant vivid colours others called unrealistic. With no formal education in art she instinctively knew what to say, "I am showing the feeling with colours; it is not supposed to be realistic." Later, after seeing Thompson's work she longed to venture into the wilderness but her fear of water held her back until she remarried an avid canoeist. Then her career as an artist began to blossom.
She took a few courses here and there, but it was the private instruction of Professor Wadie El Mahdy in Waterloo over a 6-month period just before he died that marked a turning point in her life. She was then encouraged to enter the University of Waterloo where she completed a 4-year program in Fine Arts in 2005. She had already produced many examples of impressionist and surreal paintings but wanted to be an abstract artist. This she learned at UW under the instruction of Professors Art Green and Doug Kirton.
University of Waterloo University Club: solo exhibit
Homer Watson Gallery, solo exhibit
Waterloo Community Art Centre, various exhibits
Elora: Managed briefly her own private gallery; permanent exhibit at the Elora Mill
The Olde Button Factory: Waterloo, Ontario
Toronto: John Dandy, 918 Kingston Road, Beach District
Toronto: Metro Toronto Art Exposition, 2007, Toronto Convention Centre
Waterloo Community Art Centre, formerly KW Society of Artists.
Ballroom dancing, downhill skiing, canoeing, cycling and cross-country skiing.
I still enjoy working with bright colours and the smell of oil paint. I am never happier than when I have a brush in my hand. My current abstract work is mixed media collage on canvas — colourful representations of different metals in various situations. Each one is based on my own original drawing as a result of images that enter my mind in the middle of the night. Other artists have said my work is a unique contribution to the field of art.
email: danielle@hsfx.ca