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Olivier Roy – A life in art

Artists are born not made. Know what I mean? Sure, technical proficiency can only come with discipline and practice.
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Artists are born not made. Know what I mean? Sure, technical proficiency can only come with discipline and practice. But the way a genuine artist addresses the world on a daily basis is a unique act far removed from the travails of a conventional temperament.

To be an artist is to see the world as a child. To be enchanted, surprised, curious, engaged, attracted by everything that surrounds you. To be an artist is to be a risk-taker. To be original and unafraid and bold and challenging. The status quo doesn't exist for a true artist - or if it does, it's only a barrier to leap over in one's quest to be original and meaningful. You don't choose to be an artist. Art chooses you.

To be an artist - especially to be an artist in Canada - is to embark on a life where personal satisfaction takes the place of material reward. Despite all the hype we hear these days about million-dollar art pieces sold for twice their appraised value at auction, being an artist in the 21 st century is not a way to get rich.

Au contraire . Few artists in this country ever manage to make a living strictly from their art. And those who do are constantly juggling money, bills, projects and commissions in a mad act of economic legerdemain.

Consider the case of Olivier Roy. Painter, sign-maker, cartoonist, graphic artist - and, oh-by-the-way a long-time pro snowboarder and coach too - Olivier's art has quietly entered the subconscious of Whistlerites over the last 16 years or so that he has lived in Sea to Sky Country. Own a Prior snowboard? Chances are, it's Oli's graphics that you're standing on when you're ripping down the Khyber. Taking the Symphony Chair up the backside of Whistler Mountain for a little sightseeing tour? Those are Oli's logos mounted on the lift stations. Raced in the Test of Metal lately? That's an Oli-designed race jersey you're wearing. Dropping in on Art Walk for a taste of local talent? Yep, those are Oli's canvases on display too.

He does it all. A one-man art-making machine - and one of the most positive-minded individuals I know (has anybody in this town ever seen him frown?) - the long-time local has hoisted himself into the top echelons of Whistler artists. Just recently he joined fellow painters Vanessa Stark and Chili Thom for a three-day romp to Ottawa to celebrate Whistler's Cultural Capital designation on Canada Day.

So did they accomplish what the Whistler Art Council had set out to do by sending them to Ottawa? "Absolutely," responds the 36 year old. And laughs. "We represented hard."

Grouped in with artists from the country's other cultural capitals in a tent city of demonstration "booths," the three associates decided to get into the spirit of the event and really go to town with their space. Given the trio's previous track record - anyone who has attended a Chili-organized party, for example, knows exactly what I'm talking about - chances are the staid parks of our national capital will never be the same again.

"We decorated the booth and dressed up and kind of put on a show," explains Roy. "There were a gazillion people there. And we got a really positive response from the public. Seems like the organizers were pretty happy with us too."

Besieged by a never-ending crowd of well-wishers, the trio gave out all the Whistler schwag they had, and then some. "Everybody wanted to know about the Olympics," he says. There was a lot of curiosity about being an artist in Whistler too. "I quickly realized that easterners don't really know a heck of a lot about this place," he adds. "I can't tell you how many times someone asked me: 'Hey do you guys paint on snowboards too?'"

Roy grew up in Montreal. "I started skiing in the Laurentians on my mom's old skis," he explains. But it was only when he discovered snowboarding, in 1989, that he became hooked on mountain sports. "I was a skateboarder, so it made total sense to me. From the moment I stepped on a snowboard I knew I'd found my sport."

Meanwhile, the young rider was already honing his artistic talent. "My first breakthrough came at the age of nine," he recounts. "That's when I did my first self-portrait and discovered/developed my own technique for drawing faces and details and stuff." Art classes soon followed.

"My best friend in grade school, Yannick Paquette, was also a keen artist," he adds. "So we encouraged each other quite a bit while we were growing up." Must have been an inspiring partnership. For today, the Montreal-based Paquette is a highly successful artist working as a "penciller" on Marvel Comics' X-Men.

So how the heck did a young artist wannabe from Montreal end up living and working in Whistler?

Easy. Like so many before and after him, Roy first came to Whistler in 1990 as a visitor. "My mom had visited on a western tour and brought back a bunch of magazines." As it turns out, one of them had this huge ad for the Craig Kelly Summer Camp inside. "I decided that would be a very cool camp to attend." It became his high school graduation present.

The summer trip to Whistler was everything the teenager had dreamed about. He says he was blown away. "The mountains were so big, so glorious. And the people were great. I got to meet and ride with all my heroes at that camp. I couldn't imagine anything better than this." A short pause. "So I asked one of the coaches: 'How much better can this place get in winter?' And he just pointed to the mountains around us: 'Imagine when all these peaks are white and all of them are rideable. That's how much better it gets.'"

That comment would spark a flame in a hidden corner of Oli's soul that kept burning bright right through his college years. "By the time I'd graduated in '92, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to move to Whistler and become a full-time snowboarder."

Damn his Fine Art degree. Damn the Montreal art scene. Damn his local connections even. Olivier wanted a real taste of mountain life. "For me it was always going to be a short-term move," he says. "I figured I'd be over it by the time I was 30..."

Still short of his 19 th birthday - "I was too young to go to the bars even," he confides - Roy embarked on his new Whistler adventure with all the positive enthusiasm of the true born-to-ride. "Didn't matter where I lived, didn't matter what I ate," he says. "I was there for one thing. I wanted to become the best snowboarder I could become."

Between competitions on the national snowboard circuit, a 10-year stint with the Camp of Champions, coaching with Rob Picard at the Whistler Valley Snowboard Club and honing his freeriding skills on the mountains, Roy had little time to work on his art. But it didn't matter in the short term. He was living his dream. "I was hooked on Whistler immediately," he says. "I knew this was going to be my home for a while." But it still wasn't easy, he adds. "I had no money. But I was having a blast: lots of roommates, lots of small-paying jobs - even squatting from time-to-time." He smiles. "You know, the typical Whistler snow bum story..."

But unlike other snow bums, Olivier had a craft to fall back on. "I started drawing for Snowboard Canada Magazine during the '94-95 season. And that gave me a bit of a reputation." Much of that reputation came with the birth of Boarder Bob. "It was a cartoon I drew with the Question 's Glen Rodgers," he explains. "And it was all about this wannabe pro snowboarder dude, Boarder Bob and his goofy sidekick Jed Shred." Mostly though, it was a tongue-in-cheek celebration of his and his friends' lifestyle at Whistler. And it definitely got people talking.

Not content with simply being "the cartoonist du jour ," Roy was also quietly working on more serious projects - as well as getting his foot in the door with the Whistler Arts Council. "I don't have the distinct signature of a Chili or a Vanessa," he explains. Another burst of laughter. "I guess you could call my style 'eclectic.' I still like to explore a lot of different styles."

However those styles are defined, they've certainly worked for Roy. "I feel really lucky," he says. "To have snowboarding and art in my life - it's everything I could have wished for. I know so many people that don't even have one thing. It gets scary especially when you get older, not knowing what you want with your life. I cherish having no second thoughts..."

And what about Montreal? Does he still think of going back there for good? "Of course," he says. "If you're an artist, Montreal is the place to be. I think about going back every year." One last grin. "But every time, I decide to put off my return for just one more season in the mountains."