A WHOLE NEW LANDSCAPE

When Lance Whitner was selected to create the art for the annual commemorative Steamboat Winter Carnival Poster to raise money for the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, it posed a real challenge. “I don’t ever paint people, but this event and its long history and tradition are so much about the kids and the athletes. I had a lot of ideas swirling around in my head about how I could represent that and still make it authentic to my style, and I’m really happy with what I came up with.”

The commemorative poster program, created in 2016 by Steamboat Sotheby’s International Realty, raised over $45,000 for the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club in its first three years. The program was started with Steamboat Sotheby’s International Realty’s vision to create a connection between their local advocacy programs, the arts, and athletics in Steamboat—all three of which are vital to the fabric of the Yampa Valley.

Whitner, who is originally from North Carolina, always knew she wanted to be an artist. She earned a master’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder and was originally focused on ceramics. But after three kids and the purchase of very old—and somewhat small—home in downtown Steamboat, she became a painter for practical reasons.

“I work in acrylic for the very practical reason that I started out as a painter, working in my living room with three little kids,” she says. Soon they converted the garage (a former 100-year-old carriage house) into a studio. “I love my medium. I know my colors and the personality of each color and what I can do with them,” she says. She mostly paints on canvas or wood panels and stays busy with a lot of commission work. “It’s just me saying yes to opportunities,” she says. “I don’t want to ever be stagnant. It’s important to continue to grow and try new things.”

The Winter Carnival poster isn’t her first foray into public art installations. In fact, over the last year she’s been commissioned to do two major pieces; a large-scale mural on the side of a building in downtown Steamboat, and a painting for the atrium staircase in the front entryway lobby of a new building on the Steamboat Mountain School campus, where her daughter is a student.

To complete the immense task of painting the side of a building, Whitner turned it into a full-on community event. There was an after-dark painting party, a morning yoga class in the alley, and for almost two weeks there were kids and families and people of all ages who had never picked up a paintbrush jumping in to participate.

“There were so many people, age 4 to 84 who wanted to paint,” Whitner says. “People loved having the opportunity to be creative and to take part in something they knew would be permanent.” Whitner created a painting and then projected it onto the wall at night and invited people to help spray paint the outline. From there, she made a template—kind of like a giant color by number—so everyone could pitch in to complete her vision. The whole project took two weeks to complete.

It was somewhat of a social experiment for Whitner, who describes herself as an introvert and whose work is typically very solitary. What was all too familiar to the 48-year old mother of three is the concept of landscape, since the natural world is the subject of most of her paintings. But to literally become part of the Steamboat landscape through such a large-scale work of art—the largest of her career—was a huge undertaking. “I was really concerned about that piece because I felt a huge responsibility to create something that would not only comment on the community, but become a part of the town’s history,” she says. “The answer was to involve the community, and I’m so happy with the way it turned out.”

For the staircase—which was a far cry from the canvas or wood panels Whitner is used to painting on, she first created a painting and then photographed it. The digital image was then sublimated onto metal (the same process used for top sheet graphics on skis) that was cut and glued to fit the stair risers. ““It’s a very prominent piece in the new building—it’s really the first thing you see when you walk in,” Whitner says. “I am so grateful to the school. It’s such a unique and wonderful place and very outdoors-oriented. I knew I had to do something really cool.”

She took the same open-minded, anything-goes approach to creating the 2019 Winter Carnival poster painting. “I thought about this event, and how it’s about skiing and the Winter Sports Club, and decided I wanted to elevate the athletes in this painting, only I don’t paint people,” she said. “That’s when I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll do it from the perspective of the athlete.’” She pondered what that viewpoint might be and arrived at the ski jump on Howelsen Hill. “Ours is one of only a handful of Nordic ski jumps in the country, and when Karl Howelsen built that ski jump here, he brought the sport of skiing to Steamboat. That really tied it all in.” Incorporating the uniqueness of jumping through a fiery hoop, one of the signature Winter Carnival attractions, pulled the entire concept together.

Whitner felt the previous posters had all celebrated the cowboy western vibe of Winter Carnival, and she wanted to approach it from a different angle. “This is the 106th Winter Carnival, so I wanted to celebrate the tradition but do it in a fresh and new way,” she said. She hiked to the top of the jump where she did a few drawings in her sketchbook, then went back to her studio to paint with acrylics on canvas. There were other elements that she wanted to feature, like the fireworks, the lights, and Howelsen Hill’s old iconic A-frame, and the piece ended up with plenty of her signature play with color. “The feel I was going for was the fun, the chaos of the evening and the celebration of skiing, so there was a lot going on in this painting, but that’s what I wanted.” She hand-painted the lettering— another first.

The original artwork will be auctioned off at the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Foundation’s Stars at Night Gala on December 28. The first three limited edition, signed, numbered and framed giclee prints will also be available on silent auction at that event. A limited number of additional signed and framed giclee prints are available at a price of $350 each, which can be purchased by contacting traci.smith@steamboatsir.com.

Whitner said it was a huge honor to contribute something to the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, where all three of her kids learned to ski. “I’m excited and flattered. It’s important to give back,” she says. “I love my community.”

For more information about Lance and her gallery of work visit www. lancewhitnerart.com

HOW TO PURCHASE A 2019 WINTER CARNIVAL POSTER

WHERE? • Off the Beaten Path • Freshies Restaurant • Lyon Drug • Pine Moon Fine Art Gallery • SSWSC Offices at Howelsen Hill • Steamboat Sotheby’s International Realty Offices • Online at sswsc.org or steamboatsir.com

WHEN? • Late December 2018 through March 2019

HOW MUCH? • $10 ea at pick up locations • $15 ea online, incl shipping

• 100% of proceeds go to Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club