June 15, 2016

Handing the reins for the site over to Becky Happy, Denis' daughter. My best wishes go out to Denis and Becky for health and successes ahead. 

 

July 29, 2014

Arranging an excursion to England, to visit a kind patron of Denis' near Cambridge, and shoot Denis's important collection there. Expect to see a new offering of Denis' sculptures in early September here on his site.

 

Clearance has been provided on the "Transporter" shoot, so look for "The Immaculate Conception" and St. Paul's Basilica in Toronto, as you watch their 2014/15 season on television or the web.

 

July 23, 2014

"The Immaculate Conception" (left) is on a television shoot... may be seen in a France-Canadian co-production of the series "Transporter". Kind of exciting! Working on clearance.

 

June, 2014

Happily, this website has opened the door to contact from old friends and patrons eager to connect and send Denis their best wishes. Welcome to all!

 

May 8, 2014

In the city, and taking time to shoot some better photos of Denis' "The Immaculate Conception", which is situated on the lawn at St. Paul's Basilica, at Power and Queen Streets in Toronto. Seen to left, it is a stunning piece of white marble; a unique sculpture with an interesting take on the Virgin Mary, in a suitably peaceful setting. It's ironic that many churches spend much time dormant? It's a lovely gesture that she is ever outside, offering possibilities of renewal, and new life, to passers-by. Additional pictures are in the gallery.

 

March 28, 2014

Speaking with Denis today, he has been working on some wood sculptures, and is looking for some new artistic outlets, such as watercolour and chalk drawings, hoping to mentor with another local artist. We are masterminding some sale possibilities, while completing and upgrading my online interpretations of Denis' many works to better portray them. Also preparing a Denis Hapi Sculpture Park Tour brochure for the Frelighsburg Cultural Group, which runs a robust weekend tourist program through the year. You can hear music from one of their Saturday concerts on the "Lutte d'Eternal" video on the Videos page. Stay tuned. PSM

 

July 20, 2013

A bit rainy in Frelighsburg for a visit and video shoot, but an open market, live music and lunch by the river with Denis and my companion Robin made the day very nice. My videos were not as focussed as indicated by the camera in the first video, so not as productive a weekend as I would have hoped. However Denis provided many good stories, so I will attempt to do some editing to bring more life to this site. Already I have beefed up the Portfolio with descriptions and names of sculptures, as well as added a video with some description of The Eternal Struggle, (right) one of Denis' large pieces in the main square of Frelighsburg. The damaged sculpture, Canada, (left) has now been erected as well, albeit with some fine tuning left to do. It was meant to be installed differently - on an angle. Denis says his sculpture Canada is a representation of Trudeau, and Parizeau (whom one can see clearly - picture left) - and the fight to keep Canada together.  (Penny McLaren)

 

July 18, 2013

I'm going down to Frelighsburg this weekend to videotape Denis Hapi at each his 7 sculptures dotting the town. Four sculptures are in the main square beside the bridge. Unfortunately one was damaged in the move from its former home, but we'll get some sound-bites about it, too. Two other pieces are up the hill going north east out of town on 213, and one is up behind the cemetary due east from middle of town. This will be a fun trip because one of the coolest things about Denis' sculpture is him wrapping his story around it so you see all the images he has woven into the piece. Once edited I will put on the website. Another happy thing will be putting the sculptures' proper names on them! Denis is not a cyber artist - he's all about in person - and I am missing some information but will be updating the sculptures' names shortly.

 

It seems we've shelved the open-air studio in Frelighsburg at this point. Makes more sense to start at one location, inside, so weather won't disrupt the process. Denis is trying to find a bigger house to buy which will allow him to live and work on the same property, plus have a gallery area (insulated garage?) to bring in his other gallery size and smaller pieces which are currently in storage. This will be infinitely better than Denis trying to travel between Sutton and Frelighsburg daily, and really solve all the logistics issues.

 

Looking forward to an interesting day on Saturday! If you want to come and listen to Denis talk about his large pieces, come on down! (Penny McLaren)

 

June 11, 2013

Becky and I are working at securing a patron who wishes to obtain the newest sculpture which Denis will be creating this summer. This commitment will fund Denis' summer 2013 project which is two-phased. First will be the new sculpture, created in an open-air studio in the middle of Frelighsburg, likely across the river on the main road. Denis will have a couple of artisans working with him on the project. Second, will be to restore to gallery condition the seven large sculptures in Frelighsburg. There will be 700-1000 man-hours involved in the project, and they will use a lot of diamond wet-sanding tools which will work through the weathering and bring back the original patina of each piece. Finally the marble pieces will be lightly siliconed to maintain their sheen. The newest sculpture is a two-plus ton white Vermont marble block right now. Denis will carve a maquette - a small likeness of the sculpture he expects to create - and then begins the big piece. Creating a sculpture brings more expression as it is carved! ​​

 

My favourite thing about Denis' sculptures is how many symbols and feelings he brings out of the stone - there is nothing dull or monotonous about this artist's expression! The best part is to hear him introduce his pieces to the viewer - there are so many facets to his work, and so much beauty in the finished product. We will film Denis as his sculpture progresses, and also post photos to the website. (Penny McLaren)​​​​