Vancouver Arts and Culture

Located on the University of British Columbia campus, the Museum of Anthropology is removed from the downtown area. But it's essential to walk through this amazing building to understand the relationship of the First Nations cultures to contemporary Vancouver.

The museum building itself is an architectural gem, designed by Arthur Erickson, who also designed Simon Fraser University and the Vancouver Law Court Building at Robson Square. Erickson died in 2006 at the age of 84 and this structure is arguably his crowning achievement.

A dozen galleries inside this dramatic concrete post and beam structure reflect indigenous cultures from around the world. Most important, it chronicles the First Nations peoples who were the original inhabitants of the region before Europeans settle here.

Haida artist Bill Reid’s massive sculpture, The Raven and the First Men, is one of the iconic pieces and it has its own private place.

In the Great Hall, light streams in from 46 ft. high (14m) windows that highlight weathered cedar totem poles. In the Masterpiece Gallery you’ll find intricately carved small piece of argillite, ivory, gold and silver, bone and wood, most of which date from the 18th Century.

Take a walk outside to the back of the building to see the totem poles and ancient village buildings.
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Address:
6393 NW Marine Drive
Vancouver

Hours:
Daily: (late May-early October) 10am-5pm;
Tues: 10am-9pm
Oct-May: Closed on Mondays

Admission:
Adult: $16.75
Students with ID: $14.50
Seniors 65 and older: $14.50
Family (2 adults & max 4 children 18 and under:) $44.75; Tuesday evenings: (5pm-9pm) $9.00

Transportation:
If driving, there is a paid parking lot located just across the street from the Museum.

Taxis from downtown (Vancouver Art Gallery) is about $22 and takes 20 minutes for the 11.5km (7.2 miles) ride.

Bus from downtown takes 48-50 minutes with one transfer on route. Cost is $2.50/$1.75 for seniors.

The gallery was once the city’s Courthouse, thus, its neoclassical look. It is set at the absolute center of the city's downtown, occupying the city block next to the Hotel Vancouver.

The building was designed by British architect Francis Rattenbury, whose other designs include the Parliament buildings and The Empress Hotel in Victoria.

The Gallery’s permanent collection includes a wide variety of Canadian, British and American works and artists dating back to the 16th Century. But, it’s known mostly for its collection of works by Emily Carr, a British Columbia painter whose subjects were west coast native peoples and landscapes.

The Children’ Gallery has short, often changed exhibits, and there’s a well-lit casual restaurant on the mezzanine floor. In summer you can eat outside on the terrace.

In the gallery are many works by the Group of Seven. In 1920, J.E.H. MacDonald, Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, Franklin Carmichael, F.H. Varley and Frank Johnston officially formed this group of painters. They had rejected the restrictive European traditions of the time and painted landscapes of the Canadian north in what was then considered revolutionary.
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Hours
Daily: 9am-5pm
Open until 7pm on Sunday and Tuesday

Admission
Adults: $20
Seniors (over age 64):$15
Students:$15
Children:(5-12) $6.25

Address
750 Hornby Street
Vancouver

Tel: (604)662-4719

Bill Reid (1920-1996) was one of Canada's most prominent Haida artists and his work can be seen throughout Vancouver. His massive Spirit of Haida Gwaii, a jade-green patina bronze casting, is the centerpiece of the new International terminal at the airport.

At the Museum of Anthropology on the University of British Columbia campus, his sculpture, The Raven and the First Men, depicts how the Raven fooled the first people into emerging from their clam shell.

At the Vancouver aquarium in Stanley Park, Reid’s massive 5.5 meter (18 ft.) bronze statue of an Orca whale sits in its own reflecting pool.

While this intimate contemporary art gallery shows the Haida artist's work in many forms, it is also the venue for many well known and emerging native artists from throughout the Pacific Northwest.
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Hours
Wednesday to Sunday 11am to 5pm
Closed: Monday/Tuesday

Admission
Adults: $10
Seniors: $7
Students: $7
Families: $25
Youth/Children: (5-17) $5
Kids:(4 years and under) Free

Address
639 Hornby Street
Vancouver

Tel: (604) 682-3455

A couple of blocks east and south of the Art Gallery, the Orpheum is a National Heritage Site and home to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Bach Choir, Vancouver Chamber Choir and Vancouver Cantata Singers. Other events are also held at the theatre. It seats 2,688.

The theatre is located on the Granville Mall, a stretch of Granville Street free of traffic except for city buses. In its heyday, this was the glitziest stretch of roadway in Vancouver with neon signs, nightclubs and theatres. It was the place to be on a Saturday night.

The building was scheduled for the wrecking ball back in the early 1970s, to be transformed into a multiplex movie palace. But a public campaign saved the old theatre and it was restored to its former glory.

When it first opened in 1927 as one in a chain of the Orpheum theaters across North America, it was designed in an ornate Spanish Renaissance style, a style that has been retained. The interior color was antique ivory and gold with ornamental colonnades and gold leaf that contrast with black and gold arabesques. Glittering chandeliers lighted the hall.

But, it was below the stage that the most impressive item was housed - an electrically operated elevator that lifted three huge Wurlitzer organs. One of them is still played once a year.

When you’re in the hall (there are tours of the theatre in July and August) be sure to look up at the mural on the massive dome. See if you can spot the left-handed cellist.

Walking to the Orpheum you'll notice bronze name plaques imbedded in the sidewalk in the Orpheum block. This "Star Walk" is Vancouver's tribute to its entertainment personalities.
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Box Office
601 Smithe Street

The Wickaninnish Gallery is one of the major West Coast Native galleries in British Columbia. Located in The Net Loft on Granville Island, this collection of small arts businesses under a single roof is native-owned and showcases the artwork of many emerging and established First Nations artists. Many items are carved from silver and gold while there`s also a wide range of wood, glass and ceramic items.

It's named after Chief Wickaninnish of the Tla-o-qui-aht People from Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island. Translated from the native language, the name Wickaninnish translates to “having no one in front of him in the canoe.” It was established in 1987 by the great, great, great, great, granddaughter of Chief Wickaninnish.
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Hours:
Daily 10am-7pm

Address:
The Net Loft
Granville Island
14-1666 Johnston St.

Phone:
(604)681-1057

This is arguably BC's highest end gallery of aboriginal work. You could easily spend hours among the exquisite art that includes Inuit sculptures, masks, bentwood boxes, panels, argillite carvings, original paintings, button blankets and baskets. Among them are pieces by Norval Morisseau, one of Canada's iconic native artists. You won't find a more substantial collection of native art anywhere else.
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Address:
1803 Maritime Mews
Granville Island

Phone: (604) 801-5205

The Leona Lattimer Gallery, just off Granville Island, features items that are distinctly different from those found at the Wickaninnish Gallery. Here, you'll find native masks from artists considered among the finest in the province. The gallery's list of artists is expansive with more than a hundred artists and crafts people from all regions of the province.

And while you'll find gold and silver jewellery, the Lattimer also has argillite carvings, soapstone sculptures, bentwood boxes, masks, and even totem poles.

The gallery is now operated by the grandson of the original owners, Leona and David Lattimer,who established the gallery in 1986.
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Hours
Sunday: 11am-5pm
Monday-Saturday: 10am-5pm
Statutory Holidays: Noon-5pm

Address
1590 West 2nd Ave.
Vancouver

Phone
(604)732-4556