Vancouver Art Gallery

The SFURA board would like to support initiatives suggested by our members who could take on most of the organizing. Jay and Carolyn Burr recently experienced an outstanding public tour of the MashUp exhibit now on at the Vancouver Art Gallery and Jay is organizing a private tour for interested members by the same guide (see bio below). We would meet at 9:45am on Monday, April 25, and after the tour gather for lunch at the Gallery Café, where we have reservations at 12 noon.  

For admissions, the VAG has offered us a special group price of $3.50 apiece (Admission for seniors is normally $15). Those who are members of the Gallery have free admission and would pay only their share of the cost of the tour. Assuming 20 participants, the share of the $150 cost of the tour would be $7.50. We would cancel if fewer than 15 plan to attend, to keep the per person share of the cost of the tour below $10.

We are aiming at 20 participants and need to know now how many are interested.

Please reply to burr@sfu.ca by MondayApril 11^th if you plan to attend. If the number interested exceeds the spaces available, we will accept the earlier respondents.

MashUp, The Birth of Modern Culture 

MashUp, The Birth of Modern Culture is a major exhibit that occupies the entire 4 floors of the VAG and traces the development of contemporary art from ideas developed by Picasso, Braque and contemporaries at the beginning of the 20^th century to a mode of creativity that has grown to become the dominant form of cultural production in the early 21st century. http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_mashup.html

Jessa is an excellent, clear speaker who was very effective at giving an understanding of contemporary art during the public tour. "With private tours of course questions, comments etc. are always welcome and easier to discuss as we go along, than with the large public tours, and you can let us know if there are certain areas or interests you are hoping to cover, or special interests of your group." Instead of covering just one floor as in the public tours, Jessa suggested she guide us through the entire  exhibit to bring out the themes that tie the entire exhibit together.

Bio: Jessa Alston-O’Connor is an art educator and independent arts writer and critic from Vancouver. She holds a Masters in Art History from Concordia University with a concentration in Asian Canadian Art, Identity and Food Culture in Contemporary Art. Over the past ten years she has taught Art History at the University of Saskatchewan and worked in public art galleries and collective run art spaces across Canada, developing and delivering programs for meaningful connections between art and diverse publics. She is an educator in Public Programs at the Vancouver Art Gallery and instructor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

The Gallery Café offers a wide variety of quite elegant dishes, wine and beer at reasonable prices. The outdoor patio would be very nice in good weather.

The Burrard or Granville skytrain stations are convenient, and also bus travel will avoid the cost of parking. Parking is available in the parkade below Robson Square between the Courthouse and the VAG or the one below Nordstroms. Passenger drop-off is outside the Hornby Entrance to the VAG (at the red awning); watch out for bikers in the bike lane.