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A Fresh New Look for Ski Wee

Posted by gloria wong November 28, 2014

There’s something powerful about having a blank slate, a vision, and a talent to bring it all to life.
Grouse Mountain’s Snow School Director, Toby Barrett, wanted to refresh the Ski Wee experience at Grouse Mountain. He knew that children connect with animals and he thought that a wolf would be a powerful animal to connect to Ski Wee. “Wolves are pack animals. They are a naturally social animal. This is something that I think children in Ski Wee can identify with…the importance of the group dynamic, learning together, getting brave to try new things together.”

It takes a little magic to bring a vision like that to life and Grouse Mountain found its magician in a local artist, Tori Heavenor – a student at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Tori’s passion is illustration, doodling and drawing and she has a special talent for creating animal characters with endearing qualities that jump off the page or wall.
“Grouse Mountain’s team started the painting process by priming the walls and cleaning up door frames. My process was to project my artwork onto the walls and get the backgrounds painted first. The size of the room was a bit daunting until I actually started painting.”
“As I continued to paint I got more and more excited to see the characters coming to life. “
“Not everyone gets to take a tram to work every day. It has been fun getting to know some of the Grouse Mountain staff and to do my work on the cold and snowy mountaintop.”
“I’m so excited for the kids to see it. That’s what makes me happy is when I can show my art to the public and see their reaction to it. I am going to come back once programs start in December to see the kids experiencing the mural.”

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