Burns Reimagined Art Installation

Published December 21, 2023

Deer Valley’s Burns Reimagined art installation celebrates the unique character and culture of Park City through partnerships with five diverse, sustainably minded, local artists.

For this project, upcycled chairs from the recently retired Burns Chairlift, one of the first chairlifts at the resort and a staple for Ski School, served as a blank canvas for each artist to design and capture the essence of Deer Valley. From stunning scenics to portraits of Deer Valley legends like Stein Eriksen, they delivered — and you can now find these chairlifts-turned-masterpieces displayed around Deer Valley.

After the Burns Chairlift was retired, the chairs that were not utilized for Burns Reimagined were auctioned off to employees with proceeds donated to the Kimball Art Center (KAC). KAC is one of Park City’s oldest nonprofit organizations with a mission to inspire, educate, and connect our community through art by offering exhibitions, classes, and events to Park City residents and visitors. Through this donation, Deer Valley was thrilled to be able to support art programs in Utah, which are 100% privately funded state-wide.

ABOUT JESSICA REPKO
Aspens // Wasatch Back

Jess Repko grew up in Park City, Utah where she developed a love for the outdoors. Her outdoor adventures and experiences fueled her artistic passion to create works of art capturing her experiences. Jess's drive to create art comes from her desire to share the incredible beauty the outdoors have to offer. By sharing these nature inspired vistas she hopes to inspire others to go outside and appreciate what it has to offer.

This chair project was a fun challenge for Jess to demonstrate her style and to build a functioning work of art that not only represents the outdoors but withstands it. She purposefully picked two colorful scenes that she identifies as Park City and used her textural technique to add depth to the scenes. Jess has a soft spot for aspen trees and portraying them in different seasons is a favorite project for her. This is the first alpenglow season she has ever done and looks forward to making more versions of this scene.

The Wasatch back painting felt important to create because this was the view she grew up with. The flowers and snow combination was a tribute this past winter being the biggest snowfall on record for Park City and there would likely be snow in the mountains well into July.

In addition to being an artist Jess was a ski patroller at Deer Valley for 8 years and is now an emergency nurse in Alaska. As an artist she works on commissions only currently and can be reached by email at jessrepko15@gmail.com.

ABOUT ANNA MOORE
Bluebird // Powder Day

Anna is a Utah-based painter who finds inspiration in the untamed lands of the West. After nine years of living in the Wasatch, she has found her mountain muse for life. As an artist, her deepest joy comes from physically tracing the landscape with her body (skiing, hiking, climbing, biking...) and then immortalizing that experience in paint.

Anna’s art honors the unique landscape of Utah— from snowy Wasatch peaks, to the sandstone cliffs of the south. Using both watercolor and oil paints, she focusses on the jagged line where the earth and sky meet. She hopes her paintings are a reminder to keep your eyes up—to the impossibly blue sky, and to the peaks that call us to venture higher than before.

For the Burns Reimagined chairlift project, Anna wanted to feature the two types of winter weather we get at Deer Valley: “Bluebird” and “Powder Day." For the “Bluebird” design, she combined her favorite view (Clayton Peak from atop Empire lift) with a native Utah bluebird — the Scrub Jay. The “Powder Day” design uses more muted tones and features fluffy, pillowy pine trees and the first ski tracks after a fresh coat of snow. View more of her work at annaleighmoore.com.
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ABOUT PHILIP VASQUEZ
Stein // Shannon

Philip Vasquez is a Park City based artist and graduate of California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Philip’s father taught him to paint as a young kid and art has always been part of his life. He has done work overseas, including teaching art in India. Philip works with all mediums, but primarily watercolor and oil.

Philip’s passion is painting people and bringing out their spirit, heart and feelings. It is important to him that art has a purpose and a voice, and an energy that never stops.

The inspiration behind Philip’s chairlifts were two really special people who have done a lot for the Deer Valley community, Stein Eriksen and Shannon Bahrke. Both are artists in their own right. “As a painter, you have to be incredibly brave and courageous, and the same is true for Olympians.”

Philip found it easy to paint them because you can feel their spirit, confidence and strength. To view more of his work, visit @philip_vasquez on Instagram.

ABOUT LAMONT JOSEPH WHITE
Chair 7

Avisual artist and product designer born and raised in NYC and surrounding areas, Lamont currently resides in Park City, UT. His career work spans fine art, editorial art, apparel design, surface design and product development.

Thematically, inclusion is crucial in his artistic expression. It’s often said that race doesn’t matter or that color isn’t seen. He prefers, instead, to observe our differences so that we can better embrace them and create opportunity.

Community and love for the outdoors often emerge in his paintings and digital design. Recent work includes activations with resorts, film production, product manufacturers, retailers, non-profits and private collectors. See more of his work at lamontjosephwhite.com.

ABOUT ABBY RINGQUIST
Champion // Snowcat

Abby Ringquist was born at the University of Utah in 1989 and was raised in Park City. She currently live in Kamas, Utah about 20 minutes from her childhood home. Her parents relocated to Park City from Pennsylvania in the mid 80s to work in the ski industry. Her first ski season pass was to Park City Ski Area for the 1989-90 season, when she was 6 months old (fun fact about her- she has had the privilege to have a ski pass every year of my life to date)

Her love for the mountains and playing in them only grew from there and when she was 5 years old, her first dream was born- to compete in the Winter Olympics. A dream that was fulfilled in 2018 at the PyeongChang South Korea Olympics, in the sport of Nordic ski jumping. Yes, the one where you try to see how far you can fly through the air with skis on, head first.

Much of her youth was devoted to pursuing her athletic career, but she was always drawn to art (pun possibly intended). She was named to the US Ski Team national team when she was 16 and was fortunate enough to be able to partake in an national team athlete/student program at Westminster College in Salt Lake City once she graduated high school. Though it took her 12 years, she acquired her Bachelor's degree in Art while training and competing all over the world in World Cups, World Championships and ultimately in the Olympics.

Once she took my final ski jump at the 2018 games, she transitioned her focus to completing her degree and focusing on art. Abby has donated pieces to various fundraisers, had work displayed in several locations around Park City and has participated in a few local art shows. She not only has a passion for making art but also being able to teach art. This year she entered into a new role as an 8th grade art teacher at Weillenman School of Discovery.

Most of Abby’s work is inspired by the magnificent landscape and nature of Utah, along with her love for winter and skiing. Her Champion chair was inspired by the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and the World Cups which Deer Valley hosts every winter for the freestyle skiing events. The SnowCat chair is a nod towards the employees who work around the clock to give guests the greatest snow and corduroy on earth, while recognizing the fun mascots and kid zones on the mountain. Connect with Abby on Instagram at @AbbyRingquist.

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