Honouring Cory Trepanier: Our North Star
This week, we at Windrush Estate Winery honour and remember our friend and neighbour, local artist and explorer, CoryTrépanier. He died on Friday after a valiant fight with cancer as age 55.
Our “Amazing Views” at Windrush Estate Winery include his painting of Wilberforce Falls in the Arctic. www.intothearctic.ca
Windrush Co-owner, Marilyn Field, wrote: “As a fellow ‘Caledon Walk Of Fame’ honouree, I am grateful for participating in the private launch of Cory Trepanier’s book two weeks ago. That afternoon, a number of us, including Her Honour Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and His Worship Allan Thompson, Mayor Of Caledon, as well as the heads of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and Parcs Canada, represented all Canadians in letting Cory Trépanier know how much we honour and appreciate what he accomplished for our land’s sustainability through his life quests, travels, observations, paintings and powerful story-telling documentaries about Canada’s North.”
Cory Trépanier’s decade of artistic Arctic expeditions led him to tackle challenges few encounter, including a knee-punishing trek on Ellesmere Island with a 120lb backpack; enduring ravaging hordes of mosquitoes while painting at the edge of one of the highest waterfalls in the world above the Arctic Circle; being surrounded by Arctic wolves; canoeing around an iceberg with his easel to capture it as it fell away; and depicting Mount Logan, Canada’s highest mountain, from the Kluane ice fields at 10,000ft … all for the sake of the power of art to tell our earth’s story.
Cory Trépanier has been featured in media around the globe and his documentaries broadcast internationally, sharing his passion for the wild places that he explored and painted. Co-owner Marilyn Field fondly remembers working with Cory to bring the North to light with hundreds of school children who, inspired by his stories, painted their own art stories of icebergs and the North.
His wife, Janet Trépanier, wrote, “Cory was a light. When talking to him, you were caught up in a story filled with laughter, kindness, and wisdom. When around his presence, you began to experience the artistic lens through which he viewed landscapes, nature, and people.”
How tragic that Cory Trépanier cannot continue what is not yet done. Now, especially in these vulnerable times of climate change, the onus is on us to carry on his passion and work to value and protect our precious planet.
Cory Trépanier is our North Star.
- To purchase Cory’s book online, visit www.intothearctic.ca
- To purchase a special commemorative gift of Windrush wine with Cory’s book, join us at Windrush’s Holiday Cheer Open House on December 11th and 12th. Call me at 905-729-0060 ext. 228 or email me at marilyn@windrushestatewinery.com to reserve your day and time (12 people each hour from 12 noon to 4 pm).
- If you are looking for a way to help Cory’s family at this time, please follow this link (https://gofund.me/9b728076) which is raising funds for expenses. Everything helps.
