We’re so excited to showcase a new offering from our Gift Gallery: beautiful Wickaninnish Inn water bottles made in collaboration with Lizzie Snow! And now for a little story behind the local artist who brought them to life.

Lizzie, working under her artist name fortyonehundred, paints incredible murals and drawings, as well as artwork in collaboration with select brands for limited-edition prints and products. She describes her pieces as “contemporary explorations of the mandala and fractal-inspired, free-flowing works.” After finishing her Master of Fine Arts degree in New Zealand, Lizzie has taken up residence in Tofino. However, she calls both New Zealand and BC home as she was born in Vancouver, grew up in Auckland, and frequently travels between the two countries for commissioned works.

The path of an artist takes “curiosity, consistency, patience, perseverance, passion [and] ambition,” Lizzie says, and she must have these in spades as her work is in high demand! Just six years into her career, Lizzie has collaborated with international companies such as Lululemon, Converse, Peugeot, and is embarking on a second collaboration with artist Roy Henry Vickers. “I've always been creative and entrepreneurial,” she says of her career choice to be a full-time artist. “I enjoy the challenge. Every day is different, there’s no set path to follow, nothing is guaranteed, I am in charge of each day and my future—and of course the ongoing confrontation of a blank canvas!” And, she says, she is grateful to be able to do it.

While Lizzie takes inspiration from a variety of accomplished artists—Yayoi Kusama, Alex Grey and Ernst Haeckel, to name a few —it’s the “fractals in nature” that become the basis of her work. And living in Tofino, surrounded by “astonishing and dynamic nature,” has been great motivation for her creativity. “The ocean, the forest, the beaches, the mountains, the boardwalks, the inlet, the history, the animals… it’s endlessly breathtaking.” And most mornings Lizzie starts the day by taking it all in with her toy poodle, George, on their walk along Chesterman Beach.

Lizzie describes her art as a “life-long journey,” but has a few concrete goals in mind for the next five years: two or three more solo exhibitions and to continue painting larger and larger private commissions and murals (her largest so far is almost 100 feet!). But another goal is very nearly coming to fruition. By this Christmas, Lizzie will launch her own sterling silver jewelry line. Stay tuned to her social media channels for wearable pieces and designs.

While mostly her artwork takes abstract shapes in mandalas, for her collaboration with the Wick, Lizzie illustrated a series of local Tofino seashells collected by long-time resident and friend of the Inn, Camilla Thorogood. She says the water bottle acts “as a reminder of caring for the environment, as the glass and bamboo design is against throw-away culture.”

At the Wick, we have loved working with Lizzie, a talented artist, and simply know our guests will cherish these beautiful keepsakes.