Happy New Year! I had a request for more advance notice about events and activities happening at museums and related attractions in Metro Vancouver in order to give readers of the City Diorama more time to sign up for those requiring pre-registration. With this in mind, here is what’s ahead for the weekend and next week:
- Georgia O’Keeffe: Nature and Abstraction will be closing on Sunday, January 13th at the Vancouver Art Gallery. I had the opportunity to view this exhibit in late December and enjoyed seeing some of O’Keeffe’s flowers, but these famous paintings are not the primary focus of the exhibit. Rather, and as the Vancouver Art Gallery’s website clearly states, the purpose of the exhibit is to show how O’Keeffe “transform[s] nature into abstraction.” I would encourage anyone who is new to or who grapples with artistic abstraction to visit the museum at a time when public tours of the exhibit are being offered. I unfortunately missed these tours, but know that had I been on one I would have left the gallery with a greater appreciation and understanding of O’Keeffe’s art. If you have seen the exhibit and are more familiar with O’Keeffe’s work, please feel free to post a comment on the City Diorama to share with other readers your thoughts on this exhibit.
- The Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre will be holding a Green Building 101 workshop on Saturday, January 12th from 1-3pm. This non-technical workshop is presented by Light House Sustainable Building Centre and will show you how to “green” your home. The cost for this program is $26/person and pre-registration is required. Please contact Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre at 604-981-3103 for more information or to register.
- The Museum of Anthropology is presenting “Stuck in the Mud: Two Sundays of Stories for Children” on Sunday, January 13th and Sunday, January 27th beginning at 11am both days. This special program is suitable for children ages 3-6 and their adult caregivers. The story presenters are Christian Hayworth, storyteller and educator (Jan. 13th) and Beverly Price, educator in children’s literacy (Jan. 27th).
- If you’re like me, you have probably found this first week in January to be a little hectic. If this is the case, you may want to take a break by visiting the Roedde House Museum for the Sunday Tea & Tour. The museum is open other days of the week, but on Sundays between 2-4pm you can enjoy tea and cookies while taking in some Vancouver history as revealed in this restored late-Victorian home in the city’s West End neighbourhood. The Sunday Tea & Tour is offered every Sunday except on holiday weekends.
- The Museum of Anthropology will be honouring Master Toa Wong in a special talk on Thursday, January 17th at 4pm. Master Toa Wong helped build and document the museum’s collection of Cantonese Opera costumes. The museum is co-hosting the talk with St. John’s College, the UBC Asian Library, and the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC.
- The Steveston Folk Guild holds monthly concerts at the Britannia Heritage Shipyard, and The Neverly Sisters will be performing at the Murukami Boathouse on Thursday, January 17th at 7:30pm. Tickets are $7 at the door. Children under 12 receive free admission.
- The exhibit Rabbi Among the Lions will be opening at the Jewish Museum & Archives of BC on Thursday, January 17th at 7:30pm. The exhibit features photographs by award-winning photographer Tobi Asmoucha, who “poignantly captures hers brother, Rabbi Asmoucha, serving the small and aging Bulawayo Jewish community in Zimbabwe. The country’s only rabbi lives and serves among a Jewish community seeking to hang onto their Jewish traditions in an environment that seems left in the 1950s and set amidst the exotic African landscape.” The exhibit runs to June 12, 2008. Check back on the City Diorama for information about programming connected to this exhibit.
