Ontario artist Cory Trépanier has spent the past decade travelling the Arctic painting Canada’s wildest places in the farthest reaches of the frozen North. The wilderness he travelled is so remote and untouched that many of its landscapes have never before been documented.
And now, more than 50 of Trepanier’s oil paintings, as well as three films from his four arctic exhibitions, are touring North America in a stunning exhibition that lands at the Vancouver Maritime Museum from January 26 to March 25. Due to its extensive scope, the Maritime Museum has partnered with Vancouver Civic Theatres for an additional exhibit location at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
Cory Trépanier’s INTO THE ARCTIC has been called the most ambitious body of artwork ever created from the Canadian Arctic.
Highlighting the exhibition at the Vancouver Maritime Museum is Trépanier’s 15-foot wide “Great Glacier”, believed to be the largest Arctic landscape painting in existence. Adding to his majestic paintings, the series of Arctic films cinematically convey the wonder, awe and challenges he experienced during his four expeditions.
After premiering at the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. in January 2017, the exhibition toured museums in the United States. The Vancouver Maritime Museum exhibition will be INTO THE ARCTIC’S first showing in Canada.
Cory Trépanier is a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Living Explorers by Canadian Geographic magazine in 2015. He is also a member of the Explorers Club of Canada, and was recently honored with its highest award, the 2015 Stefansson Medal.
“Exploring and painting the Arctic intimately – by hiking, canoeing, camping, traveling with the Inuit – all this prepares me to experience nature’s wonder on a visceral and emotional level. Through this approach, I experience firsthand the awe and overwhelming sense of humility that is brought on from the realization of how tiny I am in these expansive landscapes.”
C. Trépanier
INTO THE ARCTIC runs from January 26 to March 25 at the Vancouver Maritime Museum and the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. For more information visit www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com.
