This year the Academy Art Show will showcase indigenous and ancestral art, weaving together traditional stories and contemporary expressions. Come down to see the rich tapestry of carvings, textiles, paintings, and innovative creations that reflect the artists' deep connection to the land. Join us in honoring the resilience and creativity of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Snuneymuxw and Lil̓wat7úl artists, celebrating the authenticity of indigenous art and cultural heritage.
The Art Show will be open at the Whistler Conference Centre both Friday, February 23rd and Saturday, February 24th.
Friday: 12 pm - 7 pm
Saturday: 12 pm - 7 pm
For any inquiries regarding the Arc’teryx Backcountry Academy, please contact backcountryacademy@arcteryx.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
The Arc’teryx Backcountry Academy Team
Levi Nelson is an artist from the Lil’wat Nation located in Mt. Currie, B.C. Canada, whose work can best be described as Contemporary Indigenous Art. Nelson’s preferential mediums are oil paint and mixed media works on canvas. Most recently he has exhibited work in the “Reconcile This” group show at Arts Whistler and has been chosen to design the branding for the Invictus Games 2025. Nelson received his BFA from Emily Carr University in Vancouver, and his MFA from Columbia University in New York. His work is a part of the permanent collections of VGH & UBC Hospital, the Audain Art Museum Whistler, Emily Carr University, and numerous prominent art collections across Canada and the U.S.A. Nelson currently resides in British Columbia.
Cole Sparrow-Crawford Coast Salish Artist / Model / Actor - Musqueam Nation Being raised by strong, resilient, and proud people in the Musqueam village has shaped all aspects of my life as an Indigenous artist. The knowledge passed down from generations before me, along with my experience and insight gained in my various studies have given me a unique perspective that has informed my work in the arts, business, and decolonial practice. My motivation in a professional capacity and beyond is to create space for Indigenous people, culture, politics, and knowledge, while always contributing to my community.
Janey Chang is an Artist, Educator, Fish Skin Tanner + Revivalist on a path to remembering how to be human and alive through the (re)learning of ancestral skills. She is a first generation Chinese Canadian woman living on Skwxwú7mesh and Tsleil-Waututh Ancestral Lands at the foot of the mountains and close to the ocean. Her main art form is fish skin leather, where she gives new life to salmon skins from the restaurant industry that are destined for waste by transforming them into a durable and beautiful leather. This passion has evolved into her livelihood, and she has had the honour of teaching fish skin tanning classes in person and virtually to thousands of humans of all ages in 17 countries, including many Indigenous communities who have distant memories of this old ancestral skill. Salmon continue to be her most important teachers and guides on her personal journey of self-discovery and connection to her ancestral heritage.
Nevada Lynn is an interdisciplinary artist with Michif/European ancestry. She works digitally and studies printmaking and sculpture at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Nevada is grateful to live and work on the shared, unceded territory of the Skwxwú7mesh Nation and the Lilwat7úl Nation and leverages her creative practice to serve in the realms of social and climate justice, water protection and Indigenous sovereignty.
Taryn Walker is an award-winning queer, interdisciplinary Indigenous artist of Nlaka'pamux, Syilx, and mixed European ancestry based in Vancouver. Their work explores concepts of identity, tenderness, healing, cycles of life and death, spiraling time, and futurity through drawing, printmaking, installation, and video.
In 2018 Walker graduated from the University of Victoria's BFA program with a Major in Visual Arts and a Minor in Art History & Visual Studies. Currently, Walker is doing their MFA at Simon Fraser University in Interdisciplinary Contemporary Arts.
Walker’s work has been presented in spaces, residencies, and events across Western Canada and beyond. Their artistic research has also been granted support from the Edmonton Arts Council, the Indigenous Curatorial Collective, the First Peoples Cultural Council, the BC Arts Council, and the Social Sciences Humanities and Research Council (SSHRC).
Eliot White-Hill, Kwulasultun (he/they) is a Coast Salish artist and storyteller from the Snuneymuxw First Nation. His family has roots in Penelakut and in Hupacasath in the Nuu Chah Nulth world. His interdisciplinary art practice is rooted in honouring and celebrating the teachings, stories, and worldview that have been passed down by his family, community, and culture. He works across mediums, including digital, painting, sculpture, creative writing, public installation, and curation. He currently resides on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh.
Tsawaysia Spukwus (Alice Guss) was born and raised in Squamish, BC and is mother to three children, grandma of two girls. Tsawaysia is Cultural Ambassador, Knowledge Keeper, and Facilitator of various mediums including drum making, wool and cedar weaving, traditional medicine, and plant walks. Tsawaysia is masterful at bringing innovative learning opportunities to all people through workshops, drumming, singing, storytelling and getting people dancing. She is currently an Indigenous Cultural Programmer with the Museum of North Vancouver.
Austin Aan’yas Harry is a digital artist and a dedicated member of the Squamish Nation, with ancestral ties to the Namgis Nation. He is situated in Vancouver within the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples.
Having grown under the guiding hand of his father, Xwalacktun Rick Harry, Austin’s early years were steeped in the rich tapestry of the Squamish people’s history and culture. As he shared his culture with the youth of the Lower Mainland alongside his father, Austin’s own creative spark found a unique inspiration: the intricate world of digital art and media. Influenced by the vivid tales spun in movies, the fantasies of comic books, and the adventures of video games, he yearned to see more of his culture reflected in these mediums.
While his journey took him through the hectic world of the video game industry, a deeper calling was always at play. It was the call to weave the threads of indigenous culture into the fabric of mainstream art and design. Indigital is Austin’s testament to this mission, a beacon for bringing forth the vibrant traditions and tales of indigenous communities into the limelight. Through his art, Austin Aan’yas Harry not only showcases his heritage but also seeks to carve a space for it in the heart of contemporary culture.
Randall Bear Barnetson is a multidisciplinary artist of Indigenous heritage. Randall Bear Barnetson is from the village of Nadleh Whut’en, the Dakelh nation, and of the Duntem’yoo Bear clan. Bear’s artistic practice interprets matters of modernity such as mental health and wellbeing, identity, culture, and spirituality, through the framework of Northwest Coast Indigenous art forms. Bear’s art and traditional storytelling has aided in reconciliation and decolonization efforts with settler organizations in discussing Indigenous culture and heritage. Bear was born and raised in the urban Indigenous community of Commercial drive in Vancouver, BC. Bear spent years serving alongside his parents who founded a thriving mission on the 100 block of Hastings that provided essential services to over two million members of the Downtown Eastside Community.
Bear’s practice is currently based on the Unceded Territories of the Musqueam Coast Salish peoples as a guest. On this territory is Vancouver’s YVR international airport, from which Bear received the Emerging Indigeous Artist Scholarship award in 2022. Bear is enrolled in his Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Bear has completed the Foundation Program thus far.
Joshua Watts is a Nuu-Chah-Nulth, and Adopted Sḵwx̱wú7mesh First Nations professional artist, and Cultural Carrier. He has been creating art since 2013. He was raised in Squamish away from his ancestral territories of Port Alberni and Lake Cowichan, but has since reconnected with his family roots on the island. Joshua has studied under great artists such as: the late chief and master carver Beau Dick, Ray Natraoro, Wayne Alfred, Corey Bulpitt, Joe Martin, Gordon Dick and Linda Lindsay, amounting to over 8 years of intense mentorship.
He recently finished his debut solo exhibition titled “Gifts from the Ancestors” shown at the Victoria arts council. He is also leading research towards cultural revitalization, facilitating land based learning initiatives and continually discovering the beauty of his ancestry through the art of his people. He is a 2 times recipient of the YVR Art foundation Artist scholarship award, with further recognition from the founder Frank O’Neilfor his contribution in cultural revitalization in First Nations communities.
