When he finished St. Lawrence College\u2019s art program at the Cornwall campus in 1972 \u2014 the first graduating cohort \u2014 he pursued a career in graphic design but soon fell out of love with the work. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was always doing what someone else wanted, what someone else needed. I was not too happy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When he came across the work of famed assemblage artist Joseph Cornell, a sculptor from New York whose work has been displayed at the Museum of Modern Art, Leclair found his calling. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is it,\u201d he said upon seeing Cornell\u2019s work. \u201cThis is what I\u2019ve been looking for.\u201d <\/p>\n
For decades, Leclair scoured flea markets and garage sales in search of the right parts for his mixed-media sculptures, calling it \u201cselective collecting.\u201d He isn\u2019t out on the hunt anymore, as he\u2019s got too much stuff, he said, pointing to the assorted pile of bric-a-brac strewn across his desk: chunks of old an electric piano keyboard, doorknobs and faucets and other discarded items that may one day form a new piece. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s more in the back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When Leclair started, there wasn\u2019t much space to display his work around town. Back then, Cornwall was an industrial city dominated by giants like Domtar and Courtaulds. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of artists who didn\u2019t have an outlet,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
So he built it up; first, an art gallery in along First and Pitt streets, then later on Second and Pitt, of which the Kline gallery became an offshoot, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I remember correctly \u2014 I was the first exhibitor in all three of them.\u201d <\/p>\n
He also helped create the Apples and Art Studio Tour in 1991, when he returned to Cornwall from Scarborough.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s festival featured 42 studios to visit across Cornwall and SDG, and even more artists<\/a> on showcase \u2014 considerably more than in 1991.<\/p>\n At the Cline House alone, three artists showcased their works across three different media. Candice Nixon, Linda Norton and Tracy-Lynn Chisholm respectively presented glass art, Gouache, graphite and water colour, and oil paintings. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a huge event,\u201d said Norton. \u201cIt gets you exposure, and people go out and look at art. That doesn\u2019t happen all year round.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are a smaller city, but we have such a bubble community of artists and are very supportive of each other,\u201d said Chisholm, who started presenting her work at Apples and Art around 1997 or 1998.<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n Leclair said he is pleased with the festival\u2019s evolution. <\/p>\n \u201c(I) can\u2019t say I\u2019m surprised,\u201d he said. \u201cBut a lot of people have taken advantage of it.\u201d <\/p>\n He isn\u2019t too involved with the various committees these days, though. <\/p>\n He described his sculptures as esoteric, and \u201cfrom my interior self.\u201d <\/p>\n He said he sits on the floor of his studio, tinkering with his different pieces until, suddenly, \u201cthe objects start to speak. Then the real work begins. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s magic, really. I don\u2019t know where it comes from \u2014 The universe, somewhere \u2014 but it happens.\u201d <\/p>\n To guide his audience through the interiority of his work, he leaves elaborate titles as a door into his mind. <\/p>\n One sculpture of a metal figure swirling up from a wooden canister and holding two platters of coloured balls was called: \u201cI am your genie \u2026 guiding you to the windows of universal love.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s kind of like an art philosopher\u201d said Emily Macleod, visual arts coordinator at the Cline Gallery. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t say it; he shows it.\u201d<\/p>\n The latest work he showcased at Apples and Art was mostly created in the aftermath of his wife\u2019s death, who passed away on Sept. 23, 2024. For a whole year, he couldn\u2019t produce much of anything. Then, suddenly, it poured out of him. <\/p>\n He\u2019d be in bed all night, he said, fixated on a piece that was bothering him until he\u2019d come down to the studio, determined work until he\u2019d find the answer. <\/p>\n \u201cOh, that object belongs on that other piece \u2014 not there,\u201d he\u2019d tell himself,\u201d rearranging the sculptures before leaving to finish them off in the morning.<\/p>\n Once he got going, he couldn\u2019t stop; he said he managed to do three years\u2019 worth of work in six months. <\/p>\n \u201cI must say, it\u2019s quite refreshing to be able to do this without any distraction \u2014 not to insult her,\u201d he said, briefly turning his gaze to a photo of his wife on the wall. \u201cAnyway, she\u2019d be pleased with the latest stuff I\u2019ve been doing.\u201d <\/p>\n Down the street from Leclair, it\u2019s the second Apples and Art showcase for Bressard in three years. The Grade 11 student from \u00c9cole secondaire publique L\u2019H\u00e9ritage has been drawing her whole life, starting with doodles of her fellow classmates as she struggled to pay attention in class. <\/p>\n Much early work focused on the human eye, but \u201cit got a bit repetitive,\u201d she said, now focusing on water colours. She\u2019s struck up a bit of a friendship with the elder artist over the years. <\/p>\n When he learned of her artistic sensibilities, he lent her some of his old paint, and encouraged her to apply for Apples and Art.<\/p>\n While she\u2019s drawn to realism, she took Leclair\u2019s advice to try new media. <\/p>\n \u201cThis was me just letting go and letting my art be messy for once,\u201d pointing to her more recent works, focusing on fruit and European city scenes. <\/p>\n Changing her style to something more impressionistic was scary, she said. <\/p>\n Bressard said she is grateful for the work Leclair put into fostering the arts community, where she\u2019s managed to sell her work and pick up gigs doing face-painting since her first Apples and Art. <\/p>\n She said she feels a connection to Leclair. <\/p>\n \u201cOur art is so different, yet we still relate on our passion for it,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe I can learn how to be more free and abstract like him.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if he\u2019d give her any advice, he politely declined. <\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s coming up well,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s going to be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Teenager](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0929-co-apples01.co_.jpg\")
Grade 11 student Bella Brossard, with her artwork, was encouraged to participate in this year\u2019s Apples and Art Studio tour by Peter Leclair. She displayed some of her work on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026 in Cornwall, Ont. Nick Dunne \/ Cornwall Standard-Freeholder<\/p>\n
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