LIFTing the Community 

Retired Catskinner Chairs Find New Life As Works of Art with LIFTing the Community

Outdoor Exhibit: Whistler Village and Upper Village | FREE, all ages | June – August, 2021

Auction: LIVE ONLINE | On now –  September 7, 2021

Squamish Arts Council & Kendra Hicks

Proceeds will benefit: The Squamish Arts Council
The Squamish Arts Council’s vision is to embed arts and culture into the fabric of Squamish’s community and ensure arts are a vital component of its identity. We support local artists and raise awareness of and access to arts and culture.

Artist: Kendra Hicks
Kendra is a self-taught artist. After buying a small collection of paint, one brush, and a sketch book in the summer of 2015, she immediately became hooked and hasn’t looked back. All of her paintings are acrylic on canvas and they’re all of mountains.

Would you like to see this chair in person? Look for chair #4 on the map.

*As this is an outdoor exhibit, all chairs will be touched up by the artists before going to their new home. Find our more about the auction

Bid on this LIFTing the Community chair!

Discover the story behind the chair and find out more about the artist and organization:

Paired with artist Kendra Hicks

Kendra’s paintings express the feeling of being captivated and utterly mesmerized by the magic of the mountains. Kendra draws inspiration from all of her mountain adventures. Whether she’s skiing deep powder or climbing granite faces, she’s influenced by the feelings brought on by adventurous moments. She finds herself constantly inspired by the pure beauty of the landscapes she explores. From an early age, the mountains became Kendra’s biggest love and passion. She’s incessantly inspired for the next adventure. A mountain girl through and through, she’s ski toured and climbed all over Western Canada, and works as a guide in both the summer and the winter. Kendra is a self-taught artist. After buying a small collection of paint, one brush, and a sketch book in the Summer of 2015, she immediately became hooked and hasn’t looked back. All of her paintings are acrylic on Canvas and they’re all of mountains.

kendrahicksart.com | facebook.com/Kendra-Hicks-Artwork | @Kendra_hicks_art

Squamish Arts Council

The Squamish Arts Council’s vision is to see arts and culture are embedded into the fabric of Squamish’s community and considered a vital component of its identity. Our Mission is to raise awareness of, and improve access to arts and culture in Squamish while supporting local artists. Improving access to arts resources and programs helps build strong community connections, strengthens the foundation for growth and development of local emerging artists, and helps build capacity to support high quality, accessible, and sustainable arts programming for the community.

squamishartscouncil.com | facebook.com/squamishartscouncil | @squamishartscouncil

LIFTing the Community

Local artists have transformed 15 retired Catskinner ski lift chairs into works of art, reflecting the theme of belonging as perceived by 15 community groups that actively contribute to community life. LIFTing the Community has been created to enhance the sense of belonging in Whistler and the Sea to Sky. Whether Whistler is home for a season or a lifetime, a sense of belonging benefits us all. In our ever-growing and changing community, wellness, connection and a sense of home needs to be fostered, practiced, discussed and experienced by our community.

With support from Vail Resort’s Epic Promise fund, in partnership with Tourism Whistler and the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, Arts Whistler has paired some of the Sea to Sky’s most exciting artists with 15 community groups to reimagine trusty old Catskinner lift chairs into compelling works of art. Tourism Whistler recently provided space for the artists to work in the Whistler Conference Centre.

The reimagined chairs are on display throughout the summer in Whistler Village for people to explore, experience and discover their own spirit of belonging. Chairs will be auctioned off with the funds going to the community organizations to support their programs that support community belonging and wellbeing.

Learn more about all of the participating community groups and creative artists paired with them:

• Arts Whistler | Anna Lynch
• Audain Art Museum | Dave Petko & Liz Thomson
• AWARE | Ben Poechman
• Kids on the Move | Kris Kups
• Mature Action Community | Tonnja Kopp
• The Point Artist Run Centre | Sherry Klassen
• Squamish Arts Council | Kendra Hicks
• Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre | Taka Sudo & Dominique Nahanee
• Whistler Adaptive Sport Program | Vanessa Stark
• Whistler Blackcomb Foundation | Mike Tyler & Bob Van Engelsdorp
• Whistler Community Foundation | Stan Matwychuk
• Whistler Community Services Society & Laura Scarr
• Whistler Museum and Archives | Alyssa Bruijns
• Whistler Public Library | Michaela Ivancova
• Whistler Youth Centre/Alphabet Soup | Ace Mackay-Smith & Mercedes Nicoll

Take yourself on a tour and discover all of the chairs for yourself!

Save the map to your phone | Download the full printable brochure

With thanks to our sponsor Epic Promise, and project partners:

Thanks to Neutron Factory Works for production support.

Accommodation provided by: