A group of professional Moncton artists, together with Imago, a non-profit artists' print-shop located at the Aberdeen Cultural Centre, have created a virtual gallery which can now be viewed on the Internet.

A poster was also created by each artist involved in the project. These posters, used to promote their web site artwork, were distributed across Canada and in such prestigious institutes in the United States, as the Andy Worhol Museum in Pittsburg and Guggenheim in New York. This month, New Brunswickers have the opportunity to view the posters, the traditional way, at Moncton's City Hall Gallery.

The following eight artists' work can presently be viewed at La galerie virtuelle on Internet: Hermenegilde Chiasson, Valerie LeBlanc, Luc A. Charette, Jacques Arseneault, Daniel Dugas, Louisa Barton-Duguay, Lionel Cormier and, Francis Coutellier. By the end of the year, the work of artists, Ginette Savoie and Pierre LeBlanc will be added to the virtual gallery.

The project was funded by the province of New Brunswick ($10,000), a Canada Council for the Arts grant ($5,000), and through various fund-raising activities.

Artist and master printer, Jacques Arseneault, says his work on the Internet is a "virtual" presentation of what his art actually is. When visitors click onto his work, they can partially find out where the artist drew his inspiration from. His work consists of many "cut and paste" procedures from various works, he says, and can be viewed in "layers".

While many printers prefer to work in black and white, this is not the case with Mr. Arseneault. Visitors to the virtual gallery will be surprised at the amount of color he uses.

"Virtual art is getting to be a reality," he says. "Our internet gallery presents a wide variety of artists. Some some traditional artists are found at the site, many of them are involved in multi-media or mixed media."

Artist Luc LeBlanc, for example, is a multi-media artist who combines video, painting and sound effects, says Mr. Arseneault.

Because Imago only has enough space for print-making and no physical gallery to present their artists' works, the web site, he says, is an important promotional tool.

The web site, he says, also offers artists an opportunity to try new things.

"At Imago, people are encouraged to show initiative. We are constantly looking at setting up shows and creating projects which are at an experimental level."

"In the future, we hope to invite other New Brunswick artists to participate in our project," says Mr. Arseneault.

He adds that the virtual gallery offers the public a new way of looking at art.

"Before, with a painting, we only used our eyes and our imagination. Now the spectator can get behind of what an artist is doing."

Luc Charette, who is a professional artist and the director of the art gallery at the Universite de Moncton, says he has, since the 1970s, been involved in integrating sound, image and movement to his art.

"I enjoy the Internet medium," says Mr. Charette, "because it gives artists a great opportunity to show their work."

Mr. Charette does not believe a virtual gallery on Internet will make art more accessible to the general public.

"When people are interested in art, they get access to it."

He says some people are just more interested in watching baseball and hockey.

"What is important," says Mr. Charette, "is that 100 years from now, we can see how artists left traces of how they depicted society."

Artist Valerie LeBlanc, who did a Masters Degree at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in a course entitled, Time Arts Program, says she is accustomed to working with various media. This summer, Ms. LeBlanc and Daniel Duguas, also a multi-media artist, displayed their artwork in a trunk of a car, calling it the "Trunk Gallery".

"I'm not a stranger to electronic media," says Ms. LeBlanc. "When I came here, I did a radio program to inform people what electronic media was all about."

While Ms. LeBlanc says that the virtual gallery might make artists' work more accessible to the public, she believes it is important for people to visit traditional galleries to take the time to enjoy works of art.

"While the new technology is a good tool, it's not the main issue," says Ms. LeBlanc. "Internet can give information about many things, but it does not really change anything concerning art. People don't change that fast."

Those interested in visiting La galerie virtuelle, can do so at: http://139.103.17.11/imago-1.html

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