Audain Art Museum in Whistler celebrates the British Columbia landscape

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Image courtesy of Patkau Architects

Artist rendering of the Audain Art Museum

Artist rendering of the Audain Art Museum

Suzanne Greening is looking at sketches of the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, B.C., which will display art from the collection of millionaire property developer Michael Audain when it opens this year.

“We call it the hockey stick,” says Greening, the museum’s executive director. A long rectangular portion, the stick, will hold the permanent collection, including work by Emily Carr, Jack Shadbolt and the Vancouver School photo-conceptualists, as well as  Audain’s renowned historical and contemporary First Nations’ art. The shorter section, the blade, which turns at an angle to the main building, is for temporary exhibitions.

The Audain recently released its first publication, Masterworks from the Audain Art Museum, by Ian Thom, a curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery. But the museum itself has had a few hiccups. Originally scheduled to open in November, concerns about the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system delayed the official opening to March 5. As well, a kick-off show by Jeff Wall, one of Canada’s best-known artists, has been shelved. The Audain, in a statement, simply said many of Wall’s works “turned out to be unavailable.” Wall told the Vancouver Sun that the scheduling change meant some pieces were already committed to shows elsewhere. The Audain’s first show will now feature work from the collection by Mexican modernists Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco.

The museum got its start several years ago when Audain and his wife, Yoshiko Karasawa, visited a small gallery in southern France started by a private collector in Paris. They fell in love with it and decided to build something similar in Canada. The originally envisioned 25,000-square-foot structure has more than doubled in size to 56,000 square feet. It’s near Fitzsimmons Creek, amidst a small meadow and a stand of second-growth forest. Fitting into the existing landscape was crucial, says Greening. Few trees were cut during construction and the building was elevated on four large concrete piers because it’s on a floodplain.

This makes for an interesting approach. The building is cantilevered out into the forest, and visitors must cross a 100-foot bridge from Blackcomb Way. “You’re floating,” says Greening. “It’s like you are in the trees.” She thinks Emily Carr would like the natural setting. “When you think about her and E.J. Hughes, it’s very much about the B.C. landscape. That holds for First Nations’ art too. It’s a really strong connection.”

One of Greening’s goals is to engage audiences in Whistler and Vancouver. “We are a brand new visual art institution in a community that’s never had one. We want to be part of a larger dialogue in Greater Vancouver too. It’s not just Whistler.” And she notes, laughing: “Will we get people off the mountain? Get them off their skis, snowboards and mountain bikes? Will they come in and hang out in an art museum with us? I hope so. We’ve been having a debate about letting people keep their ski boots on when they come in. This is an amazing journey for all of us.”