Meet Annick Lemay

“I believe Art is a communication form. A vessel. The way it can be delivered is manifold. Ultimately, it’s about the message. The way it makes the person on the receiving end feel.”

About the Artist:
Annick Lemay is a first-time author. Besides poetry, Annick writes works of fiction and short-stories in different languages. When not writing, Annick is exhibiting her artistic photography and drawings. Annick lives in Vancouver, B.C. with her son and two dogs. To find out more visit her website annicklemayartsand-photography.com or her Facebook Page: facebook.com/MidnightThoughts Poetry/artbook

1. Tell us a bit about yourself. Where did you grow up? What did you study?

I grew up in a combination of different places. I was born in Mexico but was raised as a French citizen. Both sides of my family loved to travel and so we travelled and moved a lot growing up. We used to spend our summers in France and other parts of Europe and by the age of 15, I had visited 4 out of 5 continents. I moved to Canada in my teens and have been living here ever since.
My first area of study was languages, literature and the arts. My mother was an artist and we used to spend ridiculous amounts of time in museums and art galleries worldwide, particularly in Paris and New York. I later studied psychology in college and worked in that field for many years before coming back to the arts later in life.

2. Your first book “Midnight Thoughts: A Fusion of New Poetry and Visual Arts” is about to be launched. Can you tell us what it is about?

Midnight Thoughts: A Fusion of New Poetry and Visual Arts is a compilation of thoughts and observations on the human experience as seen from a psychological and humanistic perspective. These are experiences that we can all relate to, regardless of background, put into poetry. Initially, it was supposed to be just the text in English and French but the publisher wanted to include my art and photography also, so it became a process of matching my art and photography to the text. It naturally evolved into an Art book.

3. What was the inspiration for Midnight Thoughts Poetry?

The inspiration for finally getting my work published in Midnight Thoughts was my mother’s sudden diagnosis of dementia and Alzheimer’s. She was a brilliant artist and a ‘walking encyclopaedia’. She was fluent in several languages. In a matter of months she had lost the ability to speak. I decided to finally put some of my works together, write new ones and try to publish a volume as a last gift to her. I found a publisher on my second try. It just was the right time.
I have always written when I have thoughts and feelings that I consider epiphanies. From there I work on these experiences and put them in easy to understand but beautiful language, to convey the message. It sounds complicated, but Midnight Thoughts is very easy to read and feel.

4. What do you hope the audience will take from your book?

I guess any author hopes that the reader will take first and foremost, personal satisfaction from their work. That it’s going to make them feel good and appreciative of life and beauty. In these days of uncertainty, I hope my readers will take with them the feeling that we are going to be okay, that Art and culture remain for us, even in the mess of this current situation. That you can give yourself a break and enjoy something just for the sake of your own sanity, for the sake of balance in an unbalanced world. It’s ‘me time’ when you read Midnight Thoughts.
The intention is to make my reader feel good. To make him or her relax and appreciate language, thought and art. To appreciate humanity also. To appreciate beauty. Midnight Thoughts is meant as food for the eye, mind, heart and soul.That is my hope.

5. You are a very versatile artist. Aside from writing poetry you also write short stories and fiction. And you paint and do photography. How can the art of writing be combined with other forms of art, such as painting or photography?

Yes, I believe Art is a communication form. A vessel. The way it can be delivered is manifold. Ultimately, it’s about the message. The way it makes the person on the receiving end feel. It’s also hopefully meant to teach something valuable or to simply make the reader feel good.
In Midnight Thoughts the art of writing is combined with visual arts to give a full-on experience. They fuse together to convey and enrich each other. Hence the subtitle, «A Fusion of Poetry and Visual Arts.»

6. When did you join Semiahmoo Arts and what was your motivation to join?

I joined Semiahmoo Arts after taking a class on writing memoirs there. Actually, it was that instructor who convinced me to publish. As I was attending that class, I became more aware of the society and decided to try and show my photography. It then became my Art, too. And while putting ‘Midnight Thoughts’ together, it sort of came together: It was the right thing at the right time. I wanted to share my art. It was also the right time at a personal level. I believe it takes a level of maturity as an artist to decide that your art has gotten to a place where you feel comfortable sharing it. It was an unconscious natural progression of what I was living at the time.

7. How do you think literature as a form of arts can unite people from all different classes and races?

If there is one thing that can unite people from all classes and races it is Art and Literature. Art and Literature have been joining us as a species for as long as we’ve had opposable thumbs. Art was present in caves before we even developed language. Literature and the arts is what makes us human. The ability to create and appreciate beauty has no cultural or socioeconomic barriers. It is the link that links us together. It is the true privilege of humankind.

Note: Annick Lemay’s book Midnight Thoughts: A Fusion of New Poetry and Visual Arts will be launched soon.