The Vancouver Art Gallery has the feels where from the outside it looks like it can be as extensive…read moreas one of the large metropolitan museums you would expect from big cities. However, once you enter you see the exhibits are a bit more subdued and it isn't as large as it seems from the outside. Still, that shouldn't discourage you from having a good time and getting a big old "VAG" hand stamp on you to experience this art gallery. The exterior of this museum is all Victorian in the scope of its columns and use of concrete materials. It could be a museum perfectly placed in any other Commonwealth country. Entering inside you go through a long hallway with a gift shop at the very end with a good selection of art related and niche items to buy. On one side of the hallway are lockers and restrooms. On the other is a stairway up to their cafe/restaurant as well as the entrance to the actual galleries for the museum. It doesn't feel aged and instead quite modern and efficiently designed. As most museums, there is a rotation of different exhibits and featured artists. During my visit one of the most visually stunning pieces was an atrium area with curving staircases on both sides with a rainbow pattern of waves on the ground. It was a nice visual and interactive piece and definitely one meant for social media. Continuing on I enjoyed seeing lots of interactive art pieces. One was a prompt on the wall where you could put sticky notes on the wall to answer the question. Another similar piece was found but instead of sticky notes you could hang pieces of paper with words or artwork as your response to their prompt. One of my favorite parts of the Vancouver Art Gallery was their offerings of easy to carry foldable chairs. This meant if you really found something you wanted to spend more time on you had a chair to help sit for a while. I wish more museums had this amenity. First Fridays of each month means free admission, though it is first come first serve so you might be waiting a while. But a free admission to this museum felt worth it. However, if you have to pay to come in unless they have a specific piece of art or artist featured that you like it might feel a bit expensive for the price of admission. Either way, museums are a great insight into any city and if you want to experience the creative side of Vancouver, the Vancouver Art Gallery is a good place to visit while exploring the city.

Coming from Chicago, this Art Gallery is on the smaller side. However with that being said - they…read moremade the best with the space they have with some interesting pieces. We really enjoyed the variety.

The Bill Reid Gallery downtown is a premier art gallery show casing aboriginal / indigenous art…read morefrom the Northwest Coast. Bill Reid was a master artist (of many talents) who brought aboriginal art to the public & the world in way prior to his works were aboriginal art was mostly ignored or never really seen in importance to Canada's history. One of his most famous pieces is located at YVR Vancouver International Airport - the famous Jade Canoe sculpture. It has appeared in many travelers photos as they pass through the airport - one not to miss. The Bill Reid Gallery is small museum but is a must check out, whenever you're in downtown Vancouver. Do not expect the same experience like at the Natural History Museum (NYC or London) nor the Met, which requires hours of time to get through. The BRG is way smaller. Budget to spend at least an hour here. I enjoyed the displays & was actually quite impressed with what I saw. If you're heavy into art & native history, I'd highly recommend a visit out to the University of British Columbia to check out the Museum of Anthropology. See my review.

Nice place to learn about indigenous art. Kind of dull if you aren't interested in art or history…read more Nice gift shop at the end, and some beautiful totem poles and wood statues.

You have no idea what treasures both modern and historical live behind the unassuming doors facing…read morePender. But a couple of clicks on their website will unlock an hour long tour, complete with a peek at an old school room, a trounce down the old Market Alley, and a frolic on the rooftop where stunning views, sculptures and the famed "Everything is going to be alright" neon sign meet the sky. Our tour guide's name was Caroline and it was her very first day as a guide. She rocked it. The current exhibit features Amy Bessone and Thomas Houseago, husband and wife, with a colourful mixture of paint and sculpture. It was quite educational, friendly and refreshing, not to mention the space itself is impressive and inspiring. I wonder what a party would be like here.... magical?

I first heard about Bob "Condo King" Rennie's art collection in a Vancouver Sun article by John…read moreMackie in October of 2009. While this collection and its space are a benefit to Vancouver, there are many things that I dislike about this new gallery. First, Bob Rennie is a tycoon trained in the art of selling, schmoozing and fabricating. This is not necessarily the type of person that I associate with the collecting of *good* artwork for public consideration. Second, this is a private gallery, and Rennie never lets you forget it. You must reserve a spot on a tour, which runs every Thursday during each particular show (there will be three per year). When you enter the historic Wing Sang building on East Pender, a clueless receptionist from Rennie Market Systems greets you in a tasteful yet corporate lobby and prompts you to sign a waiver, really hitting home the fact that the owner is not comfortable with the public all up in his bid'ness. Third, I read a quote from Rennie stating "The only goal [of the gallery] is that artists want to show there." This one sentence proves that the rejuvenation of the Downtown Eastside, the educating of the public, the supporting of BC arts and the meaning of the artwork come a distant second to the promotion of the Rennie brand. Despite the misdirected motives and corporate principles behind this gallery, I must admit that it is a valuable addition to East Pender. With the infamous Carnegie Centre just one block away and the sad architectural situation in Strathcona, this building demonstrates some of the ways in which neighbourhoods can be revitalized from the inside out. Of course, gutting heritage buildings and opening new, popular establishments within old and/or run-down neighbourhoods always comes with the risk of gentrification, but Rennie's conversion of the Wing Sang building succeeds as a symbol of both preservation and progression. Rennie has created a hidden lair of idiosyncratic artwork and commerce in one of the oldest parts of Vancouver, but at least his Ivory Condo fails to infiltrate the atmosphere and ethos of Chinatown. The gallery provides Rennie with a surprising amount of space, and an even more surprising amount of wall space. There is a small exhibition area of about 400 square feet on the groundfloor which is perfect for smaller pieces, such as photographs and canvases. The two primary rooms are on the "second floor". I use quotations here because the second floor is comprised of the the top three floors that were destroyed and transformed into exhibition space. There are basically two rooms upstairs, and the main room is actually too lofty in my opinion, but it does give Rennie and the curator(s) freedom to present larger installations. My favourite thing about the building is the way in which elements from the original interiors have been incorporated into the gallery space, such as raw brick wall and distressed wainscoting. I encourage you to visit the gallery for the architecture alone. Book your tour: office@renniecollection.org I just hope Rennie's Wing Sang project doesn't lead to a Starbucks opening within Sun Yat-Sen Garden!

I support the arts, and I love exploring museums and galleries, wherever I go. So I was thrilled to…read morepass this contemporary art gallery many times in my travels in Yaletown (my new neighborhood, as we moved here six months ago). I finally got the chance the other day to go in and check it out. I know this gallery has various "off-site" locations (such as at the Yaletown-Roundhouse station), but I am only reviewing this site on Nelson Street. It's very small. There are two exhibition rooms, with a small ante-room by the front door with published materials (books and flyers) and a few eclectic knick-knacks. The actual exhibition rooms contain artwork installations that rotate regularly, so every 3-5 months or so, the exhibits will change. When I visited, there was a screen projector in one room, projecting scenes of waterfalls and/or clouds and sunrises and sunsets on the walls. (I forget the artist's name). The other room contained an installation by Andrew Dadson highlighting plant forms and light. I really enjoyed the Dadson exhibit, and I read up on the exhibit and the artist off the complementary flyers provided. My kid and I liked how admission to the gallery was free, and we enjoyed checking out the two artists' works on display. But the site and exhibits are so small, it took us ten minutes to see it all. I think most people would spend between 5-15 minutes here, I say this so people reading this don't make this gallery an end destination and drive here specifically to check it out. Better to add it to your list with other things to do in Yaletown.

Came here with a group of friends to check out the Deanna Bowen's "A Harlem Nocturne" exhibit with…read moresome friends. It's a definitely a more intimate gallery, and while the architecture may not be anything to phone home about, I thought it was really nice. Very clean, well lit, and yes, you guessed it -- contemporary. While the Deanna Bowen exhibit was great, another really stand-out feature for me was the little "Resources" nook. I spent about 30 minutes there, waiting for my punctually-challenged friends, so I really got into things. Great selection of books, prints, and artwork, most available for purchase, about or relating to the various exhibits. The little TV playing the loop of five or six videos, again, relating to the various exhibits, was a great for either an introductory or deeper look into the displayed artists or their exhibits. It's a chic, little gallery. A great place to check out if you've got an hour to kill downtown. I'd absolutely go again!

If you are interested in the history of Vancouver and have a few hours to spare, check out this…read moreplace during your visit. The museum has a lot of interesting facts of the growth of a great city, as well as acknowledging their dark past.

Tired and uninspired displays. This place needs to…read morere-imagined. Super boring. The first display was all about long covid. Great fun.

Lumière is an annual art event that's been going on since 2016, although this is the first year I…read morehad heard of it. It consists of several interactive light up art installations, as well as various performances, and it's all absolutely free! This year Lumière runs from November 1 to 3, from 5pm to 10pm at four different locations -- šxnq Xwtl'e7én Square behind the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Jim Deva Plaza on Davie Street, Morton Park at English Bay, and Lot 19 on Hornby Street (near the Salvador Dali Space Venus sculpture). There is also a free shuttle to take people between the locations which depart approximately every 15 minutes. I went with Nancy H. last night, and had a great (and inexpensive!) time. We took advantage of the free shuttle, which were trolleys from the Vancouver Trolley Company, and it took us just under two hours to make the rounds. We started off at the art gallery, where we saw the following installations: -Steely T: a large light-up, flame spewing turtle that people could enter or climb up top -Daisy: a large solar powered tricycle (unfortunately we didn't see it in action) -Alternity: a branching sculpture that lit up in different patterns when people interacted with it (it was one of my favourite pieces, probably because it reminded me of an organic molecule) -Sandscapes: sand, which people could sculpt, with different colored lights shining on to it in different patterns, evoking images of alien lands -Segmentium: a large orb with a diameter of 7 feet and 24 segments that lit up -Orchidelirium: giant orchids In additions to the above art pieces, at šxnq Xwtl'e7én Square, there was also a small exhibit, Neon at the Post, about neon signs in Vancouver. I immediately recognize the large, neon R from the Ridge movie theater. The next stop was at Jim Deva Plaza where we saw: -Tetra Velo: a large pyramid that people could walk through -Chromatic Shadows: a screen on which people's shadows were projected -Visitor: a blob-shaped structure that lit up in different colors and patterns, depending on how people interacted and controlled it -Woven: large, inflatable, illuminated arches that people could pass through on to their way to the beer garden (which also provided free water) Our third stop was English Bay. When we arrived, there was a fire show happening, although it was difficult to see, with the large crowd. The exhibits were: -Brood: an interesting metal spider, whose body served as a heat lamp -Stanley: a Great Blue Heron made up of 10,320 lights -Davie: a 24 foot tall grizzly bear -Luna: an orca made of over 6000 lights -Eugenia: a tree with lights that change color (my favourite exhibit at Lumière). It's not an exhibit of just any tree, but the oak tree that was atop of the Eugenia Place condo on Beach Avenue, that was installed in 1987 and died in 2017. *Note: Stanley, Luna, and Eugenia will remain on display until February 2020. The fourth, and last stop, was at Lot 19. There, we saw: -Telefunkin' Shadow Stage: another exhibit that involves displaying people's silhouettes on a screen -The Beating Heart: a nine-foot-high fiberglass human heart sculpture that was originally displayed at Burning Man. It beats to the rhythm of a person who places their hand on a sensor. (Note: the sensor is clearly not designed for people who don't have large man hands!) -Key to My Heart: two giant antique keys and a lock that also has a sensor to detect people's heartbeat. -Lux Memoriae: cool, geometric lanterns -Chrysafly: a large butterfly, although it was still being assembled when we were there. It was a fun night, and if you have a chance to check it out today or tomorrow, go! Lumière will be on my calendar next year. [Yelp collections: Public Art; Cheap Thrills; Being a tourist in my own city]

Lumière is an annual event of various art installations held in early November each year. Last…read morenight (Nov. 1) was opening night, and I went with Jasmine (a fellow Yelpie!), and we had a terrific time. It seems this event gets bigger and better with each passing year, and because there's been more advance promoting and advertising for this "light festival", and because the weather last night was stellar (clear and warm, considering it's November), there were fairly large crowds in attendance. And you definitely cannot beat the price. It's free! This year Lumière was held in four separate locations: two in the West End (Morton Square, at Davie and Denman, and Jim Deva Plaza, at Davie and Bute), and two downtown (the Van Art Gallery square on Georgia, and Lot 19 at the northern end of Hornby at Coal Harbor). There were free shuttles driving us attendees to each of the various sites. The buses left every 10-15 minutes, and the "tour guides" on the bus briefly described the highlighted works at the next location. There were 5-10 light-art installations at each site, and most were interactive in some way. Some, you could climb on. Some projected your image on screens in various ways. Some detected your pulse when you placed your hand on sensors and they flashed lights in various configurations. All were very photogenic and led most attendees to take selfies, and pictures of their kids or partners or dogs among the illuminated, colored backdrops. (Note: this is a very family-friendly event). As my kids would comment: this was an Instagram-friendly photoshoot-friendly kind of event. Some locales had performers who worked with lights and/or fire in some way. The fire performers at Davie and Denman had such a large audience circling them, it was hard for me to see the action (but I was glad that there was such a great turn-out for the event, so I happily checked out the other illuminated works at this site). There were neon-lit walkers on stilts at Jim Deva Plaza, too. At the Butte and Davie site, there was a makeshift tent set up for folks 19+, with a beer garden inside, bistro tables and chairs and a dj playing disco music, with disco lights and a floor for dancing! Cool! Seriously, it's hard to believe that this type of expansive exhibition, encompassing four separate sites in the city, is totally free of charge. I really recommend checking it out.

Last month I went to New Media Gallery to see their newest exhibit, "Master", which was scheduled…read moreto run from September 14 to December 1, 2024. The exhibit consisted of eight works by six artists, all of which paid tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. The works on display were: -Sliced Classics by J Tobias Anderson (2003 - 2024, Sweden) -De Mortuis by Lee Henderson (2011, Canada) -Übermensch by Scott Billings (2018, Canada) -Psychedelic Lock by Daniele Puppi (2016, Italy) -4 Vertigo by Les LeVeque (2000, USA) -Prediction by Gregory Chatonsky (2015, Canada/France) -Vertigo@home by Gregory Chatonsky (2015, Canada/France) -The Kiss 3: The Recursive Cinema by Gregory Chatonsky (2022, Canada/France) "Sliced Classics" consisted of eight screens, each screen displaying the sliced edges from various scenes of a Hitchcock movie. "De Mortuis" were clips from the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" edited so that it appeared as if Alfred Hitchcock were delivering a speech about TV and human mortality. It was shown on an old-fashioned television, but unfortunately I couldn't make out what was being said due to all the sound from the other exhibits. "Übermensch" was about Hitchcock's movie "Rope" (which I hadn't heard of). The movie takes places in one room, and the room depicted in the movie was made into a mini 3D model which is rotated on a robotic arm and projected onto a screen. The meaning behind this piece was beyond my intellect. "Psychedelic Lock" consisted of two screens, side by side, showing the movie "Psycho". One screen played the original 1960 version and the other played the 1998 remake. Both films were playing simultaneously and the screens bounced back and forth between each one. The exhibit was near the gallery's emergency exit, and the curator explained that the artist intended it to be near an exit for some reason -- the exit sign and door was part of the art. "4 Vertigo" were clips from the movie "Vertigo" sped up, flipped around, and superimposed on each other, giving the sense of.... you guessed it, vertigo. "Prediction" showed scenes from the movie Vertigo, and as the movie played, a computer tried to predict the emotions of the actors on the screen. On the screen were a list of emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happy, sad, surprise, neutral) and in real time a number, indicating the likeliness of that emotion, changed, depending on the actors' expressions. "Vertigo@home" shows a 2015 Google street view of the route taken in Vertigo. (I haven't seen the film but there is a scene where a man in a car is following a woman.) "The Kiss 3: The Recursive Cinema" is the film Vertigo being run through AI, with the famous kissing scene being featured. Unfortunately, on Monday December 2, I received an email from New Media Gallery saying that after ten years, the curators are moving on and the gallery is closing for good. They extended the exhibit until today, Saturday December 7, and from 3 to 6pm they are having a farewell event. I will be sad to see New Media Gallery close, and I wish Sarah and Gordon, the curators, all the best. [Yelp collections: Museums and Art Galleries; Cheap Thrills; Being a tourist in my own city]

Thank you to the lovely Jasmine A. who has been talking up New Media Gallery for weeks and then…read morebringing me here to see the exhibit. New Media features contemporary art and the exhibits rotate (sometimes quite literally!) and are here for a short time and then onwards. We were here in October and got to see "Measure" which is all about the movement of day into night, the cycles of the Sun and moon, the rotation of the Earth and the tools we use to measure time. Sadly, this exhibit ends on December 10 2023. Something new and exciting will follow. The Earth Spin Orbit piece was pretty clever as the laser follows the Moon around the Earth. The Time Dilation artwork was hypnotizing to watch the rotation. And I watched more than one cycle of Semiconductor as it followed the Sun rising and setting. Don't miss New Media Gallery. This is a great art and culture. [Review 20888 overall - 64 in British Columbia - 1872 of 2023.]

The first time I came here was in 2001 and a sculpture literally brought me to a stop. I was in a…read morehurry but HAD to see more. I often drop in when on Granville Island and now always include it in the list I give to visiting friends. The gallery holds the art of Peter Kiss and Tanya Gleave. Peter's art is often tongue-in-cheek which perhaps makes the subtly biting social commentary, more generally palatable. Usually in the form of people, animals, zany birdhouses or 2-D sculpture. Tanya's art is heavy on the feels. I wish I had a picture of a piece that has always stayed with me but I didn't know it would have that effect until the following days when the image wouldn't leave me. The gallery is light and airy and the reception is welcoming. Private commissions are an option. Monday's it's closed and it doesn't open till 10:30 a.m. I mention this as I have sometimes been disappointed to find the door darkened :)

We literally just wandered into the Peter Kiss Gallery from the street, drawn in by the whimsical,…read morefor lack of a better word, carvings and sculptures within. They are mostly large in size, folk art in style, and usually based on a humorous twist on a theme or an idea. For example, a group of figures encased in a wood block is titled "Stuck in Another Committee." From what I understand of Peter Kiss's artist's bio, he once trained as a wildlife zoologist. Salmon are a common motif, and one of my favourite pieces in the gallery was a beaver that has a goofy smile on its face and reaches out as if begging for a hug - it's titled "How about a Kiss?" Though I have little money in my personal art budget, I really enjoyed visiting this two-level gallery of work with a little tongue in cheek on Railspur Alley.