It can be easy to drift toward the known hotspots of Montreal’s art scene; if you are looking for an artist, throw a stone in Little Burgundy, Griffintown, or Little Portugal, and you’ll hit 10 of them. As international students, it’s also way too easy to stay within the McGill bubble or, when feeling “adventurous,” head to the Plateau and convince ourselves we’re experiencing all of Montreal’s artistic culture. However, neighbourhoods like Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) carry memories forged through generations of creativity.
Known for its communal charm, you might not find the vibrant network of artists and meeting places that dot those more immediately attractive areas. However, if you take a closer look, you will find that art is not always a painting, a poem, or a photo, and it is not always created by a trained hand.
The municipality of NDG was first established in 1876, and primarily encompasses the community served by the beautiful Church of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. In a borough abundant with churches like the impressive St. Joseph’s Oratory, NDG’s church may seem quaint, but that only accentuates the neighbourhood’s artistic subtlety. It evokes feelings of intimacy through simplicity to focus its faith, with quiet touches of beauty in details such as the stained glass that colour this as a place of communal worship.
Four decades later, in 1916, Loyola College moved to NDG. The central building, opened in 1947, represents the grandeur of the College’s broader architectural style, creating cohesion with the rest of the campus despite its mid-20th-century construction. Loyola College and Sir George Williams University merged in 1974 to create Concordia University, which now boasts state-of-the-art journalism and media facilities. Although these facilities primarily serve the students of the university, they allow NDG to serve as a home for journalistic arts, nurturing future journalists such as CBC reporter Hana Gartner.
Today, the neighbourhood is well-represented in the field of community visual arts. A standout is the Our Lady of Grace mural just past rue Sherbrooke and Madison, created by art agency Ashop in 2011. The industrial-looking but colourful mural brightens an otherwise dreary Montreal winter, featuring a Madonna rising from a city while surrounded by red and turquoise nature. It harkens back to NDG’s past, with art bringing a community together as its religious subject once did.
While that mural stuns all who see it, it is not the only artwork to come from the neighbourhood. The impressive NDG Art Hive, which provides free access to workshops and studio spaces to those interested in trying visual art, was born out of the Cheap Art Collective of St. Raymonds in 2015. This concept, part of a larger network of art hives that seek to connect communities, uses art to provide a gathering space for people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds under the common pursuit of artistic endeavour.
Any discussion of NDG’s artistic legacy would be incomplete without mention of actor William Shatner, of Star Trek fame. He grew up in the neighbourhood, having spent his youth acting with the NDG-based Montreal Children’s Theatre. Founded at the height of the Great Depression, youth arts programs like this represent the best of art culture. The theatre’s persistence serves as a reminder that, while culture can be found in Picasso or Shakespeare, it can also come from two ladies in a basement putting on a show with their kids.
Not every neighbourhood can be a cultural cornerstone–but they don’t all have to be. At its best, art is an expression of the unique memories a community shares. Culture is a mural of a saint; it is student journalists amplifying the voices of those who are overlooked; it is a group of ordinary people picking up paint brushes; it is the final frontier of self-discovery. The Notre-Dame-de-Grâce community draws on these collective memories boldly.