M-M-Marvelous exhibition at Stewart Hall

By MARC LALONDE

marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca

Who likes chocolate?

Maybe a better question is 'who doesn't like chocolate?'

It's a question that kids and parents alike will be able to better answer after they tour an upcoming free exhibit slated for the Stewart Hall Cultural Centre in Pointe Claire titled 'Chocolate: so M-M-Marvelous' over the next five weeks, in what might be the most delicious exhibit some people have ever seen.

"It's an exhibition for young people and really, for the whole family," said Pointe Claire cultural activities division manager Micheline Belanger. The exhibit, which will run from March 3 to April 1 will feature sculptures of popular animals in chocolate form, an overview of how they are shaped and a lesson on how chocolate is made, from the coca bean to the exhibit. Sounds appetizing. The exhibit is free and open to the public, regardless of residency.

"It will be a small exhibit, but it will fun and enlightening," Belanger said. "It should also be a lot of fun; people like talking about chocolate. Everybody seems to like chocolate," she said.

Behind the exhibit is the genius of local chocolatier Marlain Jean-Phillippe, whose shop on Cartier Avenue in Pointe Claire Village has become a local institution over the last two decades. Jean-Phillippe will present a seminar at the exhibit on March 22 titled 'de la Feve au Chocolat,' detailing the making of the pieces in the exhibit. The chocolatier plans on showing off, among other pieces, a chocolate duck, a rabbit, dinosaurs and a two-foot-tall rabbit.

"We've had a number of requests (from employees) to guard the chocolate exhibit and keep an eye on things, but I know what they really are up to," Belanger said, laughing.

Visitors won't be going home completely empty-handed, though, she added.

"I think there will be some small pieces on hand for the kids to sample," she said.

For his part, Jean-Phillippe, who studied French pastry-making in Martinique and followed that up with a chocolate-making masters' course in Paris, said this type of exhibit is the first such array he's done since he gave up on international chocolate competitions more than a decade ago.

"I'm very excited about the opening. The last such pieces I did were in 1995 for competition, but I don't do those anymore. Too many politics," said the Pointe Claire resident, who moved in shortly after opening his shop in 1985. No, the only competition Jean-Phillippe is interested in these days is his daughter' Sonya's upcoming participation in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national track-and-field championships (March 8) at McGill, where she studies dietetics.

"She's running on the 4x800-metre relay team. It's very exciting," he said. "I can't wait to see her run at the nationals."

The 'Chocolate: so M-M-Marvelous' exhibit will be held at Stewart Hall Cultural Centre, 176 Lakeshore Road in Pointe Claire, from March 4 to April 1. For more information, call 514-630-1220. The exhibit is free for all.