Hardwood Hills is home to renowned cross-country skiing and mountain biking trails. It is also the home of owner Kim Viney's gallery, where she displays the variety of landscapes she has rendered in pastels and oil paints. Initially, Viney's artistic talent led her to study advertising and design at the Ontario College of Art, followed by a career in graphic design. An avid skier, she and her husband, David, ran The Racing Stripe, a ski shop in Toronto, before opening Hardwood Hills, first as a private club, and then to the public in 1989. The Kim Viney Studio Gallery was opened in 1991.

It is a wonder, while running the bustling Hardwood Hills operation, that Viney finds the time to work on her artistic aspirations. With the demands at Hardwood, Viney finds she needs the outlet that painting offers. “I do little painting in ski season, but I take a week in April,” she said, “and a week in the summer. During mountain bike season, I paint on rain days.” It is her chance to explore outside the bounds of graphic design and to tap into the talent she says she inherited from her grandmother. She paints the natural surroundings in the area and on the trails just outside her door at Hardwood. Currently, she is working on a commissioned piece for a couple who wish to be depicted in their favourite skiing spot.

Viney hopes to have an open house later this fall as part of the Images Thanksgiving Studio Tour. Otherwise, the gallery is open by appointment. Phone 705-487-3775 or email kim@hardwoodhills.on.ca.