Piper Kunst engaging in the ultimate flow at her home mountain, Alta, UT. Photo: Rocko Menzyk
Learning by doing has been core to Piper Kunst’s process since she was a kid. From cutting her edges in Colorado with her family to throwing backflips in the Utah backcountry or picking up a brush or pencil to paint her latest inspiration, most of Kunst’s pursuits have been self-taught.
Watching Kunst ski, both at the annual Kings and Queens of Corbet’s competition (which she’s won twice) and in her short film with Arc'teryx, MIMIC, it’s easy to see the creativity and confidence in the way she moves. Known in the ski industry for her capacity to charge down big lines and huck flips, off the mountain Kunst leans into another form of self-expression. At home, she channels the same flow state she finds in skiing into acrylic paintings and line drawings.
We caught up with the SLC, UT-based skier to chat about her background in skiing, her bold, psychedelic art, and how her two worlds intersect.
A dreamy day in Kunst's backyard. Alta, UT. Photo: Rick Sorensen
The Ski Journal: Tell us about your background skiing
Piper Kunst: I grew up in South Park, CO, south of Breckenridge, and my parents worked at the mountain selling tickets. We got passes through their jobs, and I got to grow up skiing with my family. I never joined any team or competed; I just skied. Skiing was always just what my family did for fun. In high school, I heard about the University of Utah, how close it was to skiing, and I decided to go there for school. I got to ski Alta and Snowbird for my whole time there and that’s when I remember thinking maybe I could make this a bigger part of my life after college.
Were there any impactful moments that helped drive you towards skiing professionally?
When I was 18, I remember going up with some friends into Grizzly Gulch. I had some of those [Alpine Trekkers] and I was so out of my element, but I really wanted to ski with these people. We went up to Pyramid [Gap] and Chad’s Gap, and there were some kids already up there throwing double backflips. I remember seeing them and thinking, ‘I feel like I could do that.’ I ended up trying a backflip and didn’t land, but everyone was psyched. I went home thinking about how exciting it was to push myself on skis in that way.
Two-time Queen of Corbet's, Kunst is cool and collected as she throws a massive backflip into Corbet's Couloir during the 2026 competition at Jackson Hole, WY. Photo: Keegan Rice
Was Kings and Queens of Corbet’s your first competition?
Technically I did a couple IFSA comps at Snowbird, but Corbet’s is really the only one I’ve done. I love that whole week [at Jackson Hole] just skiing around with everyone. It’s such a cool venue, and so many folks (including myself) have had big breaks from it. I’d love to do something with Natural Selection, but we’ll see.
Tell us about your art. Has it always been a part of your life?
When I was younger, my teachers would always get upset with me in school because I would just be doodling on everything. I never took an art class in high school, I just loved to doodle, I always have. Then, during Covid-19, when everyone had so much time on their hands, I just decided to fill my time with more doodling and realized how fun it still was. I got an iPad and kept drawing on that and everything kind of grew from there. I ended up adding a drawing minor to my degree at the [University of Utah] which was a cool way to learn some techniques, but aside from that, I feel like I just learned by doing.
Strung Out
“An intense, frenetic exploration of perception and psychological fragmentation, I created this piece with expressive pen work over a soft pink background. This piece was constructed after a stressful day, paired with wine and music. The inner workings of my tense brain truly presented themselves on the page, allowing me to actively spectate how my daily life spills into my creativity.”
Would you say your art has evolved similarly to how you learned to ski?
Definitely. Progressing my art is like how I learned to ski, I got a lot of practice doing it over and over. One of the coolest parts about art is that I’m always practicing, but it’s never done. I can always get better. But in some ways, skiing progression tapers, like there’s a limit to the biggest cliff you can jump off without hurting yourself, but with art there isn’t that limit. That’s really exciting.
It’s clear your work has evolved into far more than doodling. What’s your medium and what have you been creating lately?
I’ll really play with anything. I do a lot of acrylic paintings, colored pencil, colored ink and Sharpies. I love the iPad because it’s so mobile, I can work on it whenever. I’m definitely more of a drawer and illustrator than a painter, but I also love the original feeling of something on canvas. I’ll work with it all, but I haven’t tried oil. I’m scared of cleaning it.
Desert Cowboy
"One of my favorites to date, I created this piece while exploring the desert, guided mostly by the light of a campfire. Every color was placed with intention, honoring the magic of the landscape—the sunsets, the firelight, and the rocks. The cowboy at the optical center is inspired by my boyfriend, embodying his easy presence in the ever-changing yet timeless desert air, as well as the whimsical, vibrant spirit of the desert itself."
What does your process look like?
I’ll usually come up with a loose idea for a scene, and then I just kind of wing it. There’s a lot of flow. I think that feeling, when art looks really psychedelic, that’s really the flow state. I don’t really plan any of it out, it literally just comes out of me. I know that you’re not supposed to mix paint with your brush because it kind of muddles it, which I'm sure is true, but when I’m in that flow I’m just so in the moment that that’s what I end up doing to get it out of my brain and onto the canvas. I think if I were in painting school the art teacher would be like, ‘you can’t be doing it that way,’ but it works.
Tell us about your style. What inspires you?
It’s definitely very psychedelic, the way it all moves together. Most of the stuff you see is very flowy, with a lot of movement and color. The desert has also been a big inspiration for me. My parents used to take my brother and I every year on a trip to Moab, UT, and I’ve always just loved it—the warm breeze when the sun goes down, the evening light. A couple times a year, Tristen [Lilly] and I do these big two-week trips in the desert where we just go down there and explore.
What direction do you hope to take your art?
I love commissions. I just finished a triptych for a woman in Park City, UT, who reached out after she saw my film, MIMIC. I’m really proud of that one, it’s the first one I’ve made that truly resembles a desert scene, and there’s a skier in it. Really, I just want to spread art everywhere!
To see more of Piper's work, visit her portfolio.
Desert Triptych
"This piece was commissioned by a family in Park City who wanted to capture a landscape reminiscent of their home in the Southwest while incorporating their love of skiing. It was a unique opportunity to combine my two greatest passions—art and skiing—and at the time it was the biggest piece I'd ever created."
Portal“Commissioned with just one request—the color green—the piece evolved from that simple starting point into a layered exploration of shape, brushwork, and color.”
