“For a long time, I felt like an imposter being both an artist and a lawyer. But I’ve finally given myself permission to embrace both paths. I’ve found my perfect balance, one inspires the other”
The Alchemy of Duality: Living Between Law and Art, Nature and the City
Chloé Sabourin is a Montreal-based visual artist whose creative journey unfolds at the intersection of contrasting worlds. Balancing a demanding legal profession with a thriving artistic practice, she transforms the tension between order and fluidity into a vital source of inspiration. Her background as a corporate lawyer in downtown Montreal injects a unique structure into her life, while the slower, meditative pace of her time in the Laurentians offers fertile ground for emotional expression and reflection. This dual existence does not split her identity but instead fuels her work, allowing her to explore both intensity and stillness through the medium of paint.
“I work as a legal consultant with a very reasonable schedule, which gives me plenty of time to paint in my studio during evenings or weekends. I love doing both — art is my moment of calm, almost like therapy after a day spent in the rational world of finding legal solutions.”
Growing up in a family frequently on the move due to her parents’ careers, Sabourin’s early life was shaped by change and discovery. The experience of adapting to different environments—from bustling metropolises to tranquil countryside settings—instilled in her a deep curiosity and love for exploration. Her academic journey followed a similarly dynamic path, beginning with law school and the bar in Canada, then leading to advanced studies in arts and culture in Paris. The decision to nurture both her legal and artistic inclinations was not born from indecision but rather from the understanding that creativity thrives in complexity. She has come to embrace the apparent contradiction between her structured profession and her free-form artistic process as a harmonious and enriching duality.
Her natural inclination toward juggling multiple projects and shifting between different modes of thought and activity keeps her energized and inspired. This non-linear, kinetic approach manifests in her studio practice, where she often works on several paintings at once and allows inspiration to emerge organically. For Sabourin, hyperactivity is not a challenge to overcome but a trait that enhances her capacity to notice subtleties, act on inspiration quickly, and remain deeply engaged with the creative process.
Chloé Sabourin: Nature as Muse and the Countryside Studio
Sabourin’s journey as an artist began long before she ever picked up a brush professionally. Her mother, an avid art enthusiast, and her grandmother, an art collector, created an environment where artistic expression was both celebrated and encouraged. From as early as five years old, Sabourin was immersed in creative activities after school—ceramics, painting, drawing—all of which helped her develop a tactile connection with visual expression. The structure of these extracurriculars, meant initially to occupy her time until her parents returned from work, became the foundational moments of a lifelong passion. Her formative years were not just rich in activities but also deeply influenced by exposure to cultural institutions that left lasting impressions.
Her adolescence in New York City, which she fondly regards as the epicenter of contemporary art, further deepened her relationship with the visual arts. With access to some of the world’s most renowned museums and exhibitions, Sabourin’s artistic tastes began to take shape during these years. Teachers often remarked on her persistent sketching and her ability to stay immersed in visual storytelling, regardless of the setting. Drawing was not merely a pastime but a language she instinctively spoke. Those early affirmations from educators, coupled with an intuitive drive to observe and create, propelled her toward recognizing art as more than just a hobby—it was an essential part of her identity.
Today, Sabourin’s style resists categorization. She gravitates toward contemporary figurative work with abstract qualities, embracing a spontaneous, fluid approach. Unrestricted by the conventions often found in the art world, she allows herself the freedom to explore whatever visual narrative arises in the moment. Nature plays a central role in her inspiration, particularly its imperfection and subtle rhythms. She doesn’t aim for precision or perfection but rather captures transient feelings, imperfections, and fleeting movements. This commitment to freedom is a necessary counterbalance to her structured professional life, and through it, Sabourin accesses parts of herself that demand to be seen and expressed without limitation.
Inspired by the City’s Fast Pace and the Quiet Emotions of Nature
Sabourin’s creative environment is anything but conventional. While many might prefer a pristine studio space, she thrives in what she affectionately calls “a certain kind of chaos.” Her studio is often strewn with paint tubes, brushes, and multiple canvases in progress—a scene that might send her partner, a cleanliness devotee, into despair. The environment reflects her process: non-linear, impulsive, and deeply responsive to intuition. She often finds herself following bursts of energy and inspiration, moving between pieces without a strict plan, allowing each work to unfold in its own time.
Distractions, instead of being hindrances, serve as sparks for creativity. Sabourin frequently draws inspiration from seemingly insignificant details—moments that others might overlook but which strike her as visually or emotionally resonant. Her regular runs through nature have become a critical part of her creative rhythm. As she trains for her first marathon, these long runs offer mental clarity and fertile ground for visual ideas. During these moments, her thoughts drift freely, and unexpected insights often emerge. The physical activity complements her mental process, grounding her ideas while also opening new pathways for creative exploration.
Although painting remains her chosen medium, Sabourin continues to experiment with others. Her artistic curiosity extends to culinary creations and small ceramic projects, endeavors she engages in not for mastery but for the pleasure of expression. These activities provide her with a different kind of mental space—less driven by outcome and more by process. Nonetheless, painting holds a unique position in her creative hierarchy. When working with paint, she experiences a level of flow that eludes her in other mediums. It is during these sessions that her thoughts and emotions align seamlessly with her gestures, creating an uninterrupted channel between inner sensation and outward expression.
Chloé Sabourin: Embracing Imperfection, Creating Connection
Among Sabourin’s body of work, The Wind Remembers Both stands out as a deeply personal and emotionally resonant piece. This painting emerged following a mural project for a private residence in Knowlton, Quebec, a commission that left her feeling particularly grounded and fulfilled. Inspired by the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which finds beauty in imperfection and impermanence, the piece encapsulates Sabourin’s evolving relationship with self-acceptance.
Through The Wind Remembers Both, she channels these experiences into visual form, using color, form, and texture to explore emotional depth without falling into narrative literalism. This work, perhaps more than any other, captures her current state of being—a woman no longer at odds with her nature, but in conversation with it, finding strength and clarity through artistic vulnerability.
Sabourin’s ambitions stretch far beyond the canvas. She dreams of curating multisensory experiences where painting meets culinary art, envisioning intimate dinners surrounded by her visual works. She imagines publishing a book that weaves together her lifestyle inspirations, original recipes, and visual explorations—a creative manifesto of sorts, developed in collaboration with her friend Camille. Other visions include murals in unexpected places, like a bathroom under renovation in her own home or even the ancient walls of a European castle. Each idea carries the imprint of her desire to fuse imagination with experience, making art a living, breathing extension of her everyday life.
At the core of Sabourin’s work is a reverence for imperfection, an appreciation for nuance, and an ongoing dialogue between internal emotion and external world. Her pieces invite viewers into her rhythm, one that oscillates between chaos and control, introspection and movement. Whether she’s sketching ideas during a run, transforming fleeting thoughts into paint, or envisioning grand installations, Sabourin’s practice remains deeply personal yet universally resonant. In embracing the beautifully flawed nature of both life and self, she offers a refreshing, emotionally rich perspective on what it means to create without boundaries.
