Michel Dufresne / Biography
Artist / Sculptor, lives and works in Montreal (QC), Canada
Trained in 1977 in Fine Arts at Cégep de Sherbrooke (Canada), Michel Dufresne steered his professional career towards Urban Planning and Urban Design (Bachelor’s in Urban Design, UQAM, 1980, and Master’s in Urban Planning, Université de Montréal, 1986).
Throughout his professional practice, Michel Dufresne has realized and planned numerous large-scale institutional and public projects: master plans, strategic development and planning plans, and public consultations. Throughout his career, he has maintained a strong interest in contemporary art, its artists, and its institutions.
Passionate about art, he has been a collector for over 30 years and is actively involved in the arts community. He served as a board member at the Fonderie Darling, a visual arts center, in Montreal, for several years (2019-2021), and regularly visits major contemporary art fairs (Biennale di Venezia, Miami Art Basel, Art Toronto, Berlin, etc.).
For the past several years, Michel Dufresne has been fully dedicated to his artistic work in stone sculpture. He is a member of a sculptor cooperative in Montreal (Canada), the Atelier SKÜLPT 303.
He is also a member of several recognized artistic organizations in Canada and the United States, such as: Regroupement des Artistes en Arts Visuels du Québec (RAAV), Conseil de la Sculpture du Québec, Sculptors Society of Canada and the National Sculpture Society (USA), to name just a few.
He has participated in several group exhibitions and duo exhibition, especially in Montreal and the surrounding area, as well as in Toronto (Canada). Many of his works are part of private collections.
In 2024, he was invited, along with four other Montreal sculptors, to participate in a residency at Stallaini (the site of an old stone quarry) in Sicily, Italy. Along with fellow sculptor Martin Aubin, he completed a Land Art project in10 intensive days, which included an arrangement of stones and a monumental stele at an archaeological site. Recently, he did a residency, at the Centre de céramique Bonsecours, in Montréal for two months, where he created ten sculptures on the thematic on the City.
In summary, despite a relatively recent return to sculpture, Michel Dufresne is fully committed to his artistic research and production, with the ambition to showcase his work in galleries and gain recognition from his peers (sculptors, curators, art critics, and collectors).
