Audain Art Museum

Permanent Collection

The Museum contains a permanent collection of nearly 200 works of art from coastal British Columbia, including an outstanding collection of nineteenth century Northwest Coast masks, one of Canada’s strongest Emily Carr collections, as well as art by notable post-war modernists such as E.J. Hughes, Gordon Smith and Jack Shadbolt.

The collection includes The Crazy Stair, a painting by Emily Carr which sold at auction for a record-breaking $3.3 million. This price was the highest ever paid for an Emily Carr at auction, the highest for a work by a Canadian female artist and the fourth most expensive work at an art auction in Canada.

Exhibitions

The museum displays up to three temporary exhibitions a year, creating an ever-changing display to delight locals and visitors alike. Including both historical and contemporary art, they produce their own exhibitions and showcase art from leading art institutions around the world to complement their permanent collection.

Current Exhibition

The Collectors’ Cosmos: The Meakins–McClaran Print Collection

Date: January 28 – May 15, 2023
Description: A glimpse into the making of what became one of the foremost private collections of European prints in Canada, the core of this collection comprises a wealth of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish prints depicting seasons or months of the year, times of the day, planets, elements, animalia and more. These works enrich our understanding of the role played by prints in Early Modern Europe, illustrating humanity’s quest to make sense of the world and find order in chaos. This touring version of The Collectors’ Cosmos, organized by the National Gallery of Canada, includes works by Rembrandt, Hendrick Goltzius and Jacob van Ruisdael.

Upcoming Special Exhibitions

Svava Tergesen: Ornamental Cookery

Date: April 1 – June 11, 2023
Description: Ornamental Cookery by Vancouver-based, emerging artist Svava Tergesen, explores the symbolic potential of everyday objects. Tergesen’s work often starts as a sculpture or collage in which she employs foods and other household items to create intricate, surreal arrangements. Combining handicraft techniques such as cooking and textile art with photography, Tergesen’s practice explores the domestic sphere and the gender roles therein. The title of the exhibition refers to Roland Barthes’s eponymous 1957 text in which he examines the way women’s magazines present glossy images of food as representative of a fantastical lifestyle – a façade of gentility – while obscuring, or perhaps serving to entrench, economic issues and gender divides. Tergesen’s work brings these issues to the fore by combining imagery drawn from a myriad of sources, to create still life collages that imagine new lives for domestic objects. Exploring the tension between the functionality and decorative qualities of everyday objects, her work presents a vision of domestic space, both physical and symbolic, as one rife with possibilities.

Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage

Date: June 24 – October 9, 2023
Description: Manabu Ikeda seeks inspiration from his surroundings to bring attention and awe to viewers, as a way of sending warnings about the painful reality of environmental disasters. Central to his practice are metaphors of human grief and undeniable aspects of life that are often beyond society’s control, including the fundamental forces of Mother Nature. The artist’s emotional engagement with the impact of natural and human-caused disasters led him to produce Rebirth, his most significant work to date. This large-scale drawing depicts a collision of humankind, nature, and an environmental disaster, while emphasizing an ensuing regeneration. This is Ikeda’s first major solo exhibition in North America featuring over fifty works from national and international public, private and corporate collections.

Admission

Adult: $20
Senior: $18
Young Adult (19 to 25): $10
Youth & Children (18 and under): Free
Members: Free

When to Visit

Whistler Cultural Pass – $30 per person

The Whistler Cultural Pass provides access to the Audain Art Museum as well as the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre at a reduced price. Save up to 20% when you purchase tickets as a dual admission pass.

Please note that the Audain Art Museum is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre is closed on Mondays. Passes are not dated and can be used at any time.

Gift Shop

The Audain Art Museum Shop features a wide selection of handmade jewellery, pottery, wood work and homeware from British Columbia artists, as well as artist prints and collector books from the Audain's permanent collection and temporary exhibits.

Where is the Audain Art Museum?

The Audain Art Museum is located at 4350 Blackcomb Way. Parking is available in the day lots.

View Map of Audain Art Museum

Whistler Cultural Pass

The Whistler Cultural Pass provides access to the Audain Art Museum as well as the Squamish Lil' Wat Cultural Centre at a reduced price. Save up to 20% when you purchase tickets as a dual admission pass.

Please note that the Audain Art Museum is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre is closed on Mondays. Passes are not dated and can be used at any time.