Geneviève Castrée | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Also known as | Geneviève Elverum |
Born |
Loretteville, Quebec, Canada |
April 9, 1981
Died | July 9, 2016 Anacortes, Washington, U.S. |
(aged 35)
Instruments | Guitar |
Years active | 2000–2016 |
Labels | L'Oie de Cravan |
Associated acts | Phil Elverum |
Geneviève Castrée Elverum (née Gosselin; 9 April 1981 – 9 July 2016) was a Canadian cartoonist, illustrator, and musician from Quebec. She once recorded under the name Woelv and later switched to Ô PAON.
Geneviève Castrée was born in Loretteville, Quebec, and later lived in the Pacific Northwestern United States.
Castrée grew up reading Tintin comics from an early age, so much so that she eventually entered, studied for, and won a Tintin competition. Castrée was drawing comics influenced by artists she loved from an early age; these include: Hergé, Renée French, Chester Brown, Julie Doucet, and Argentinian artist Quino.
Castrée began her cartooning career in her teens, publishing minicomics. Montreal publisher L'Oie de Cravan published her first book Lait Frappé in 2000, followed by Roulatheque Roulatheque Nicolore in 2001, but it was Pamplemoussi in 2004 that launched her into the international spotlight in both the comic and music world. Pamplemoussi was an unconventionally large book at 12" by 12" as it also included an LP of music that accompanied her drawing. Pamplemoussi was Castrée's first musical release and her first major movement to integrate her music and visual art into one cohesive practice.
After the release of Pamplemoussi, Castrée went on to release eight albums under the names Woelv (2004–2007) and Ô PAON (2007–2016), all with her own artwork, as well as collaborations with fellow northwest musical icons Karl Blau and Lori Goldston.
In 2013 Drawn and Quarterly released what would be Castrée's last image book, Susceptible--a memoir that chronicled Castrée's childhood growing up in Quebec and eventual movement to British Columbia. In November 2015 L'Oie de Cravan published her final book "Maman Sauvage" a book of poems in French, under the name Geneviève Elverum. In October 2016 she was posthumously included in The Best American Comics 2016, edited by Roz Chast.
She was married to musician Phil Elverum, who has released music as The Microphones and Mount Eerie.