Our son Mike works on the third floor of the BC Electric Building, above Centre A Contemporary Asian Art Gallery. It is an edgy but exciting part of town and last Saturday he was proud to show us around his new work neighbourhood. We had an invitation to attend the opening of ‘Cranmer & Gray’ at Coastal Peoples Fine Arts Gallery in Gastown. Fine painted wood carvings were featured and for the occasion dancers shared their local dances and songs. The wonderful regalia of blankets, masks and drums were impressive and the enthusiasm of proud family members of the two featured artists was quite moving. The work of Kwakwaka’wakw artist Kevin Cranmer (from Alert Bay) and Tsimsian artist Philip Gray (from Prince Rupert area) will be on display until August 2nd.
Just down the way on Water Street we popped into Spirit Wrestler Gallery to drool over NW Coast Indian Art but also some fine art by Maori artists. It is far better quality than any Maori art we found in galleries in New Zealand. We were told that several artists mainly sell their carvings and ceramics only here in Vancouver where they can fetch suitable prices. Interesting.
Water Street was teeming with tourists from a vast cruise ship visible in the harbour just north across the railway tracks. And Gastown was looking very smart and busy in spite of the rain. In sharp contrast Chinatown was really quiet and our destination, the Royal BC Museum in Wing Sang was awfully empty except for some attentive staff. It is a pity visitors don’t feel comfortable or don’t know about what is just two blocks away from Gastown. We wanted to see the inside of developer Bob Rennie’s totally restored Wing Sang building with its huge private gallery so we paid to visit this summer experiment of installing 4 exhibits from Victoria’s RBC Museum there. We really enjoyed the recreation of the life and times of Emily Carr which uses lots of her art including drawings, paintings, photographs, rugs and pots as well as replica clothing and many photos of her and her world. Mike really enjoyed the chance to learn more about BC’s most famous and loved painter.
The other 3 exhibits are family friendly. There’s a quiz on odd museum objects, a lantern slide exhibit and a room containing slightly disturbing bottled animal specimens, just the sort of thing inquisitive school children would love! We found ourselves gawping at the restored building and the creative use of unexpected corridors (the old lane) and very high ceilings. It would be lovely to see all sorts of art in this space. Again we were sorry nobody else seemed to have found the show and I would wish RBC Museum success in mounting exhibits here more in the future. Go and see! There’s a small gift shop in the entrance.
Right nearby I bought some good paintbrushes in a Chinese store selling everything you can imagine. These brushes are perfect for applying my slips. I think it’s the same shop I shopped in 40 years ago.
Just across Pender street is the Sun Yat Sen Classical garden and under the Chinatown ornamental gate and further west we found the new building which is housing, a home for out-of-town Native people with family in hospital and a gallery. On top is a surprising North West Coast Longhouse. Nice.
The next morning after we’d watched Mike complete the Vancouver 1/2 Marathon in Stanley Park we found ourselves at this popular public art work of Laughing Men at Davie and Denman. Love it!
