Animalium, Mont-Tremblant’s zoology museum, will be exhibiting, through May 31, a selection of the works of Claude Thivierge. The versatile artist is an illustrator, wildlife and animal painter, designer and artistic director. A fine draftsman, he has mastered technical, humorous and medical illustration and it’s no surprise that he is often asked to illustrate novels, magazines and books for all audiences. He loves nature in general and animals in particular and has illustrated several articles for the magazine Nature Sauvage, among others. Claude Thivierge is also the artist chosen to create the many illustrations in Animalium’s permanent exhibitions of animals of the temperate forest, the Arctic tundra and the African savannah.

While versatility is a trademark of this unusual artist, it’s in his paintings of animals that you recognize the Claude Thivierge touch. What sets the artist’s works apart is the eyes, which seem to speak: remarkable, luminous eyes that establish the atmosphere and emotion of the scenes. The paintings are marked by great tenderness, which sometimes shows the animal’s curiosity about its observer; the look can be inquisitive, tender or playful, and always emphasizes the subject’s personality.

Several of Claude Thivierge’s works have been award-winners in recent years, including for Quebec Artist of the Year / Winner of the Program for Canada’s National Wildlife Habitat Stamp. His works have also been presented in exhibitions throughout Canada, as well as being reproduced in works about animals or birds both at home and abroad (USA, Australia and Europe). One of his works elegantly illustrated the cover of my recent work: “Sur la piste de nos cervidés : orignal, cerf de Virginie, caribou” (On the trail of our cervidae: moose, white-tail deer, caribou). naturesauvage.ca/livres

Located here in Mont-Tremblant on the Montée Ryan not far from Hwy. 117, Animalium is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Mondays. Entry is free for those under 12.