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Abstract

My drawings series started when I met in 1978-80, the great Australian recorder maker Fred Morgan during my study time in Den Haag, The Netherlands and his two-year period in Amsterdam for studying originals baroque recorders. He created full size designs/drawings of each flute on one page with all the measurements to be able to make a reproduction. Following that, I created my own style trying to improve the final product in addition to make them beautiful. I tried to give the feeling in two dimensions of the presence of the instruments. Coming from a visual art family, they become almost pieces of art. There are also two important motivations that are: there was the absence of 17- and 18-century originals in the province of Quebec in the 80's and it is a way for me to bring these flutes or woodwinds home. I also made my drawings for others and from the beginning I received orders selling copies that help a large number of makers and players all over the world to have access to great flutes without travelling.

Biography

Jean-François Beaudin was born on October 4, 1956, in Montreal to parents who were visual artists. He comes from the French-speaking community and grew up among a certain intellectual elite. He began his musical life and training at the age of 10 with the recorder and the Baroque repertoire. His father, a photographer and graphic designer, inspired him to strive for precision in his work, while his mother, a painter and weaver, introduced him to music and the beauty of the arts in general. From an early age, he enjoyed making and repairing the many objects around him. He was particularly fond of cycling and dinghy sailing. At the age of 17, he chose to pursue a career in early music on period instruments as a flutist. He was trained by Jean-Pierre Pinson at the University of Montreal and in Europe by Bart Kuijken and Ricardo Kanji at the conservatory in Den Haag, Holland (1978-80). During those same years, he met and worked alongside the famous Australian baroque recorder maker Frederic Morgan, who was spending two years in Amsterdam. In 1986, he received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to study at Morgan's workshop in Daylesford, near Melbourne, Australia. It was Morgan who provided his main inspiration for the design of early flutes.