Birth of a workshop | The Press

Champlain Charest is at the origin of the construction, on the shores of Lake Masson, of this workshop where Riopelle (1923-2002) created from 1974. In 1968, the radiologist had convinced his hunting and fishing partner to anchor yourself in the Laurentians… 100 m from your house! “We decided to build our workshop, with the same builder as my house, Pierre Travaillaud,” says Champlain Charest who, at the same time, had acquired the former general store in Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson to create there his Bistrot in Champlain, where the two friends fraternized for decades.

We walked around the workshop where Riopelle picked porcini mushrooms from the Champlain Charest land. We explored the surroundings with a drone to discover this nature which so inspired the artist, realizing how much it induced his pictorial style, this unique and tender look at vegetation and fauna. “When he was not in Paris or on Île aux Oies, he came here and what interested him most was hunting, fishing, friendship and nature,” says Champlain Charest.

“His milkweed pickings were almost sickly,” says Huguette Vachon. He was feverish about it. You had to call Bonnie [Baxter] or to Champlain so that they can come and pick them with him and bring them back to the workshop! He constantly wanted to carry out experiments and go into details. » “His genius was to always push things further,” adds Champlain Charest. This is how he turned painting upside down. »