Chili Thom and Kristen Dillon wanted to capture a tiny piece of Squamish's natural beauty and release it downtown.
The mission used Thom's acrylic painting style. The Squamish resident's linear brush strokes and saturated colours translated well into the project at hand, Dillon said.
Dillon brought to the table a background in silk screening and her current career as a graphic designer.
"It was kind of like a match made in heaven," Dillon, who works at The Chief, said.
Together the duo forged two designs for the Squamish 2012 Street Banner Design Competition — one looking north and the other south.
With a salmon springing out of a river, ravens in the air and Mount Garibaldi serving as the backdrop, the northern view won.
"The reason Chili and I decided to do this is we had a conversation about how Mother Nature has done such a good job at making Squamish beautiful. We wanted to reflect that in the downtown core," Dillon said. "We have a lot of pride and we believe in this town."
In the future, Dillon said she hopes to see the arts and artisan culture of the area become a more visible part of Squamish. She said she doesn't think local culture matches up with the high calibre of either the natural surroundings or the quality of local artistic work.
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"Basically, I just think that the world-class natural elements of Squamish are a really good foundation to build a world-class arts scene," she said.
The Squamish Arts Council (SAC), Downtown Squamish Business Improvement Association (DSBIA) and the District of Squamish teamed up for the competition, which closed on Nov. 22. The competition was open to all Squamish residents — young, professional and emerging artists.
Seven design submissions were received from residents, stated a report to council. In addition, 13 drawings were handed in from Ecole les Aiglons' Grade 3 students. Four of the students received honourable mentions — Noah Gauley, Victoria Hodge, Jasmine Duncan and Emily Zimmer. All the pupils' work will be put on display in the lobby of municipal hall.
The banners will be placed along Cleveland Avenue and at the south end of Tantalus Road in the spring of 2013.
