Artist Series 2025: Andrew Barker
Artist Andrew Barker chooses his subjects as carefully as he paints them.
A crane connects him to his family’s cabin in Utah, which is along the great bird’s migratory path. Or a datura, a psychotropic flower that carries meaning in indigenous traditions he has studied. Or a nuthatch, which is one of his favorite songbirds.
Wagner Custom Skis Artist Series Artist Andrew Barker
He captures their colors and patterns in neatly shaded geometric shapes: The ragged mane of an elk reaches into the sky like the blade of a saw, the powerful muscles of a big horned sheep stack like gray boulders in a rockslide. He is, in his own way, perhaps making sense of the wonder he feels for the natural world.
“They each have their own story,” Barker said of his subjects.
After spending most of his career as a graphic designer, Barker is now a full-time artist, a change that he recounts being a rather happy accident. His work is featured in numerous galleries along Colorado’s Front Range and beyond, as well as public places, like the new rest area on I-70 Vail Pass. We at Wagner are honored to now feature Barker’s gorgeous interpretations on our skis.
Datura by Andrew Barker
We caught up with Barker at his studio in the NoBo arts district to find out more. Here’s what he had to say.
Wagner: Did you grow up skiing?
Barker: I was born and raised in Utah. My mother’s a better skier than I'll ever be. We moved out of Utah, but I spent most of my formative years in Oregon, so I picked up skiing again there. I moved to Colorado in 2013 went all in on season passes every year. I am a huge proponent of public transportation, so I take the bus up to Eldora.
Wagner: You have four designs you’ve translated into topsheets. Tell us a little about them.
Barker: My entire art practice came about by being inspired by the flora and fauna by the Rocky Mountains and Intermountain West. I'm particularly drawn to wildlife. The cranes in True North have a connection for me because my family’s cabin in Utah is one of the places where the cranes stop in the spring or fall. The Datura came from a deer spine that hangs in my studio that I’ve always wanted to make a piece out of. As for Colony, I’m fascinated by rabbits. I just wanted to do a piece that had all the geometry of those three rabbits and flowers. Of Bloom was completely inspired by being in the northern Rockies and seeing the big horned sheep and prickly pears and indigo buntings.
Of Bloom by Andrew Barker
Wagner: Which ones are you going to choose for your pair?
Barker: I haven’t landed on it yet.
Wagner: Did you always want to be an artist?
Barker: I went to art school and I got into the design industry, and that was my life focus for a number of years. I took a job for a design firm that moved me out here. I don’t know whether it was because I didn’t yet have a social scene or felt inspired, but I just started creating again. Eventually I lost that job, and that brought me here. I thought, “I should do something with this,” so I started shopping around at galleries. I had no idea that selling art was a viable career path until the proof of concept hit me over the head. I had the realization that this was what I wanted to do, and it was something I could do.
Wagner: I read that you lived in East Africa growing up. How much of an influence did that have on your work?
Barker: My family lived in Utah until I was 8 and my dad got his PhD in resource management. His first position was in Somalia working at the university there. We lived there for four years, and we moved back to the States when the political situation was deteriorating. During that period, I was so into wildlife and particularly into birds. I’d always go on safari. My parents would encourage that in me.
Wagner: How do you describe your style?
Barker: Visually my style is very illustration-forward, but also influenced by printmaking as well as graphics and posters and music industry record covers. It’s also influenced by Japanese water color and woodblock printing, particularly in the way they take space and make it more vertical and stack things. I love a really high attention to detail, and of course all the wonderful naturalist illustrations, like Audubon.
Colony by Andrew Barker
Wagner: What other artists are you drawn to?
Barker: I would say when I’m inspired by other art, it can be a starting point for creation of my own, and then I can veer away. I haven’t aped any other styles, and I develop and build on it to create something that’s more aligned to what’s going on inside me.
I am also as inspired by somebody’s approach as I am about the artwork they create. There are some artists I like so much that I don’t even want to look at their work too much, because I don’t want to subconsciously copy. The ones I go back to: John Dyer Baizely, who’s also a musician, and he does a fairly graphic and detailed style. There’s a midcentury artist named Eyvind Earle, who painted during the golden era of Disney movies and whose graphic style I really love.
True North by Andrew Barker
Wagner: What’s next for you?
Barker: This has been such a crazy year for me, rest is really what I'm looking forward to.
Follow Andrew Barker on Instagram @andrewbarker_art or check out his website at andrewbarkerart.com. You can view all of his artist series designs here.
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Article by Kimberly Beekman
Kimberly Beekman is the former editor-in-chief of the late, great Skiing Magazine (RIP), and a longtime editor of SKI Magazine before that. She currently uses the title of “freelancer” as a beard to ski powder all over the world. She lives in Steamboat, Colorado, with her wonderful daughter and terrible cat.
