High in the Kootenay Mountains" by Karla Pearce

Sitting at my kitchen table with a warm cup of coffee in her hands Stephanie Gauvin gazes reflectively out the window. “"When I ski I can fly",” she says with a soft French Canadian accent, “"Sometimes I dream that I’am flying and when I’`m skiing I feel that.”"

Stephanie Gauvin won second place in the Molson Free Ski Challenge last year and intends to win first this year. This young mother of two has been pursuing her love for the outdoors and skiing for the last fourteen years, but that’is not all, Stephanie Gauvin is also an artist. After studying graphic art at Sherbrooke College Gauvin moved to Whistler to pursue her love for the mountains and painting. There, she completed many murals and graphic interiors. After a four year stay in Whistler, Gauvin moved to the alpine town of Rossland and has been there ever since.

Stephanie Gauvin has also been featured in three ski movies, two of which were directed by Christian Begin, “"No Man`s Land"” and ‘"Locomotion"”, and "P-Tex, Lies and Duct Tape" by Greg Stump. Gauvin says that the experience in film making is a lot different than in life. When she skis Stephanie makes decisions about her form and direction as she goes along ,with the film process there is a lot of setting up and a lot of waiting.

There’is no spontaneity at all and he’is telling where you should go.” Stephanie laughs and takes on the voice of the director. “"You see that tree.. you see that bump.. well go beside the tree and make the bump Explode! And go fast… Now go… GO!!!”"
She says that there is too much time to think about the shot while she waits on top of a mountain in the freezing cold. Sometimes she would she would even accidentally spray snow right into the camera. Despite the difficult work Gauvin was thrilled to be apart of the movies and has the utmost respect and admiration for the people that work in the film industry.
In order to maintain such high levels of performance Gauvin takes her health seriously. Last summer she completed a series of paintings that showcased the bold colours and wild shapes of fruits and vegetables. Gauvin provided a visual feast for viewers at the Firehall Gallery with bowls of berries, plates of eggplant and red ripe tomatoes.

Lately she has been working on paintings that portray the experience of being on the hill. In “" Snow Ghosts",” we see the tranquil figure of a skier hiking through upper alpine regions flanked by two figurative looking trees.
“We go on the mountains where there is no ski lifts, sometimes with skins under your feet, so you hike,” says Gauvin. “When you get on to the top of the mountain there are often trees that have been in the really harsh weather and they have accumulated so much snow that they bend over and they have all these folds. Those are kind of like snow ghosts.”
Gauvin was inspired by the notion of snow ghost while she was working on the Locomotion movie. In the movie “Locomotion” Director Christian Begin played with the idea that the ghosts of the workers were in the mountains, moving through the trees.

Stephanie Gauvin interconnects her sport with her creative self, for her there is no separation between the two.
“"When you feel happy and when you are where you should be then your spontaneity and your imagination are used at it`s best. It’`s all a circle”!"
Stephanie Gauvin`s paintings can be seen at the Dancing Bear Inn in Nelson, BC for the month of January and her paintings can also be found at The Firehall Art Gallery in Rossland.