MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Winter 2019

60 ML BLUE WINTER 2019 He also completed a series of cartoon-style paintings that hung on the Barn walls, inspired by Jozo’s farm animals. He painted the door to his chalet studio, which is on display now at the Craigleith Heritage Depot, who are celebrating their 10-year anniversary with both a museum and online exhibit honouring Trier. “His art seems to represent how he moved through the world,” says Allison Brown, Museum Assistant at the Depot. “We’re always looking for people to help add to, and facilitate the evolution of the exhibit by uploading photos, stories, or contributing works.” If you haven’t seen it yet, the Trier exhibit will remain on display until mid-January thanks to its growing popularity. You can see more of Trier’s work in the small but permanent Walter Trier Gallery at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, which features rotating exhibitions of his watercolours, drawings, paintings and sculpture along with other satire-themed works from the AGO’s collection. “Satire is a theme that’s celebrated and vividly expressed in Trier’s work,” says AGO Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings, Brenda Rix. Tragically, Trier died of a heart attack in 1951 in Craigleith after hosting an exhibition of his paintings at the University of Toronto, but his legacy lives on. Next time you’re staring up at the lights of Blue’s slopes, imagine if you will how powerful it is the identity of this place was shaped by two of the hardest working and impassioned Czechoslovak refugees this side of the Atlantic. Their unlikely friendship helped develop a unique zest for life in these parts, contributing to our alpine roots. The Craigleith Heritage Depot and the Blue Mountains Public Library recently created a free online resource about Trier: library.biblioboard. com/home . Members of the public are also invited to share Trier-related stories or pictures at: bluemountains.librariesshare.com/waltertrier A door painted by Trier and exhibited at the Craigleith Heritage Depot. NELSON PHILLIPS MIDDLE Trier’s 1949/1950 Blue Mountain Resort brochure. COURTESY BLUE MOUNTAIN RESORT ARCHIVES BOTTOM Walter Trier's comic vision of Europe from the German perspective at the outbreak of the First World War. COURTESY IMGUR.COM