The Ingenious: From Miniature to "Larger Than Life"

Alfred Morneault also found himself a special talent later in life. His works of art, which are small, evolving, sometimes a bit naïve sculptures, tell the story of the beginning of the 20^th Century in Madawaska. Small objects, public figures, animals and symbols from the past demonstrate how people lived in days gone by. He even succeeded in creating a replica of one of Madawaska's symbols, the legendary porcupine - his favourite piece, using six thousand toothpicks.¹⁰

Among his works are sculptures of his mother washing her clothes before the era of the washing machine, his friends driving a snow roller that tapped the snow down on public roads, as well as women beating the flax used for clothes and blankets. According to a local tradition, several residents identify themselves as 'Brayons' a term derived from this ancestral custom of flax beating.¹¹