“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and mind alike.” John Muir.
Art is synonymous with the mountains, a place that provides an abundance of natural beauty for inspiration, but also a calmness and peace that helps the mind wander.
Whistler is home to several art galleries, displaying work from local talent to the wider Canadian art pool and international artists whose work resonates with curators. One way to explore these galleries is to join the Whistler Wine Walk, which happens every Friday in October (that’s the 4, 11, 18 and 25, 2024). Not only do you get to connect with gallery owners, curators and artists, but you also get to do so with a glass of wine in hand.
Whistler Wine Walk Details
Included in the ticket price is access to the galleries, three, four-ounce glasses of wine, interactive art experiences and a curatorial tour of the Special Exhibitions at Audain Art Museum (more on that below) along with live music and canapés. There’s a choice of a white and red wine at each stop with one wine pour, per guest, per location. The first, second and last Wine Walks feature wines from British Columbia (Okanagan Crash Pad, Poplar Grove and Time respectively) whereas the third week highlights California.
The experience lasts around two hours (6 to 8:15 PM) with walking time considered. It’s the perfect evening activity after an early dinner, or perhaps before a late one depending on how you like to dine. There are four ticket options, each starting at a different gallery but all culminating at the Audain.
Six galleries are taking part this year, with four different tour options taking you to three or four stops depending on your choice (two of the galleries are in the same location), all culminating at the Audain Art Museum. The distances range from 900 metres to 2.2 kilometres, depending on your starting point. There are two new locations for Wine Walk 2024 – Fathom Stone Gallery and The Plaza Galleries.
Guests receive an email after purchasing tickets with detailed instructions including their schedule, map and walking directions for each location (a Wine Walk Guide will be on-site to help guide you between galleries).
The Galleries
The Plaza Galleries
The Plaza Galleries showcases contemporary fine art inspired by wildlife, mountain scenery and winter sports. With a more unorthodox approach, the gallery curates an elevated contemporary collection that bridges mountain culture with new and innovative art forms and media.
You’ll find paintings and sculptures that allow people to take the mountain home with them, whether that’s a Crankworx-inspired sculpture or a painting that reminds someone of an epic ski day or the time they saw a black bear grazing along the side of the Valley Trail.
Fathom Stone Art Gallery
As the name suggests, Fathom Stone Gallery is committed to showcasing the beauty and mastery of stone art craftsmanship. Carved from high-quality stones by skilled artisans you’ll find elegant designs of all sizes made from jade, alabaster and onyx. There are life-sized polar bears surveying the store floor and elegant owls looking on from their shelf perches next to the iconic inuksuks. There’s also abstract stone art and incredibly unique lighting pieces.
Pieces from the gallery can be found at several mountain homes as well as at the Four Seasons, and if you find a trip to this place inspiring come back and try your hand at carving in one of their daily soapstone classes.
Adele Campbell Fine Art Gallery
Celebrating 30 years this year, Adele Campbell Fine Art Gallery, located in the Westin Resort & Spa, proudly represents a broad spectrum of Canadian artists in an array of original paintings and sculptures. The pieces reflect the artists’ passion for their beautiful surroundings and contemporary influences, and you’ll be struck by the variety, power and boldness of the art when you visit.
For over a century, Canadian landscape art has been inspired by the Group of Seven, who bucked the trends of the time and painted with a bold palette and style they felt represented the mass scale of Canada. This has evolved and morphed into the contemporary art of today, which revels in the wildness and freedom of the country they’re depicting.
Featuring over 50 established and emerging Canadian artists, you’ll find an ever-revolving comprehensive collection of uniquely Canadian art at Adele Campbell Fine Art Gallery. During the Whistler Wine Walk, the gallery will have live painting with some of their featured artists and an interactive canvas for participants to get creative.
Whistler Contemporary Gallery at the Hilton
The white walls of the Whistler Contemporary Gallery are adorned with a diverse range of styles including figurative, abstract and landscape. Featuring Canadian and international contemporary fine art the gallery is home to some unique pieces including paintings, multi-media, glass and sculpture. Some of the art is inspired by the mountain scenes and wildlife Whistler is known for, whereas others evoke a sense of pop culture and urbanity.
During the Wine Walk, guests will be challenged to a fun Art Scavenger Hunt. It’s also good to note that they have a second location at the Four Seasons Resort Whistler if you want to connect with more of their artists.
Mountain Galleries at the Fairmont
The focus at Mountain Galleries at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler is on post-war Canadian landscape art. Mountain vistas, lush forests and winding rivers pepper the walls. The gallery is also home to some incredible pieces of sculpture with serpentine stone bears, bronze eagles and intriguing wood and resin furniture. It’s really a treasure trove of Canadian art that takes time to explore.
Audain Art Museum
The Audain Art Museum hosts special exhibitions throughout the year and Wine Walk goers will be treated to a short, curatorial tour at the end of their evening along with their third glass of wine, canapés and live music.
Opening on October 4, Russna Kaur will be showcasing her site-specific work in the Upper Galleries in Russna Kaur: Pierced into the air, the temper and secrets crept in with a cry. Kaur approaches painting as a space of infinite possibility, play and experimentation. This exhibition will unfold as a dynamic series of modular works, where smaller paintings will evolve into large-scale compositions, breaking through frames to engage with gallery walls, floors, and ceilings.
If you’ve not visited the Audain before this will definitely make you want to come back and explore. Its permanent collection is a visual journey through the history of art from coastal British Columbia. It spans the late 18th century to the present day, and features one of the world’s finest collections of Northwest Coast First Nations masks; a large collection of works by Emily Carr, and art by important post-war modernists such as E.J. Hughes, Gordon Smith and Jack Shadbolt.
In addition to these historical works, it showcases art by internationally renowned, contemporary British Columbia artists including Jeff Wall, Dana Claxton, Marianne Nicolson, Rodney Graham and Stan Douglas, among others.
For more information on what a trip to this museum is like, read Culture Up: How to Get the Most From a Visit to the Audain Art Museum in Whistler.
Whistler Wine Walk Tickets
Wine Walk tickets are limited and must be purchased in advance. Ticket holders will receive an email preceding the walk with detailed instructions for their selected route, including a schedule, map and walking directions for each location. A Wine Walk Guide is on-site to help guide guests between galleries and some parts of the tour may utilize minibuses to transport guests.
The Whistler Wine Walk is a chance to engage with gallery curators and artists, learn more about Canadian art and perhaps find something for above the fireplace back home.
There are other events happening in October including yoga at the Audain Art Museum, Fairmont Fridays, the Whistler Farmer’s Market and the Whistler Writers Festival, to name a few. Check out the events calendar for a full list of what’s happening in Whistler this October.
Stay 3+ Nights and Receive a Free $100 Whistler Dining Voucher
Secure your lodging for Whistler Wine Walk with rooms starting at $162 CAD per night on Whistler.com. Extend your stay to 3+ nights and receive a free $100 Dining Voucher.
For more ideas about what to do in the mountains in fall take a look at When Seasons Collide: 12 Quintessential Whistler Experiences.