Arts + Events District Profile – Vancouver Art Gallery

The Vancouver Art Gallery is the largest public art museum in Western Canada. It was founded in 1931 – opening with a small collection of British historical paintings and only seven works by Canadian artists. Over the years they’ve grown to accumulate over 10,000 pieces.

One of gallery’s most significant permanent collections is by renowned Canadian artist Emily Carr. She used bold colours and her style was strongly influenced by local indigenous peoples. At the time of her death in 1945, 157 of her works were willed to the Art Gallery. Her collection of paintings, sketches, ceramics, photographs and letters are unique prized possessions for the gallery.

In addition to exhibiting its own collections, the gallery hosts several touring exhibitions throughout the year plus a variety of extensive public programs and lectures.

Its first home was located at 1145 Georgia Street and was moved to its current location (former provincial courthouse) on Hornby Street in 1983. Plans have been in the making for a few years to move the gallery to a bigger space that will lend itself to increased storage for their permanent collections, a larger exhibit space, and more room for community and children’s programming. A larger exhibition space means it would be able to host highly regarded global exhibitions that often pass over Vancouver because the current gallery cannot accommodate them.

The new site is on the corner of Cambie and Georgia – opposite the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron are working in collaboration with Vancouver-based Perkins + Will on the design concept for the space. The new 12-storey gallery design is described in Kevin Griffin’s Vancouver Sun article:

Unlike many art galleries, the new VAG rises vertically on the site rather than horizontally.

Binswanger (lead artchiect) said the design comes out of wanting to create something that’s lacking in Vancouver: covered outdoor spaces that are usable year-round.

“But also we wanted to go into the vertical because this a city that is all about verticality,” she said. “You want to give the experience of being high up to the public that visits this gallery.”

The transparency comes from the glass covering the exterior of the 350-seat auditorium and restaurant levels in the middle section. When people are in the foyer and on the covered patio, their presence is expected to animate those spaces and be visible to those outside.

The building’s warm brown colour comes from the use of wood on the exterior on the upper levels.

It was the use of wood that artist Jeff Wall singled out for praise at the news conference.

“When was the last time anybody saw a wooden building go up in the centre of the city of Vancouver?” said Wall, an internationally renowned artist who was not only born and raised in Vancouver but also lives and works here.

“I spent my childhood and youth watching it disappear.”

He described the use of wood as “an artistic achievement.”

Paul Wong, one of the artists on the VAG’s artist advisory committee, said the conceptual plan is for a modest gallery that has lots of accessible public spaces outside and numerous kinds of spaces inside.

The proposed gallery would have 86,000 square feet of exhibition space — about double the amount available at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Of that, a little less than half will be dedicated to showing the permanent collection of more than 10,000 works. In the new gallery, some of the exhibition spaces will be free to the public.

Bartels (the gallery’s director) said the design is meant to be approachable and accessible.

“That’s why the transparency is very important,” she said.

“We have an open air courtyard so people can walk through it and feel comfortable. We want it to be that gathering space that people come for not only events but also just to hang out.”

At the lower levels would be two storeys of gallery space: one below ground lit with clerestory-style windows and another at ground level.

Above the three transparent floors are another three floors of exhibition space. Just below the mechanical block at the top are two floors that are being left undeveloped for future expansion.

More information on the future gallery can be found here.

 

Exhibitions currently featured at the gallery include:

A Curator’s View: Ian Thom Selects  |  September 22, 2018 – March 17, 2019

 

Upcoming exhibitions can be found here.

 

A full calendar of events can be found here.

 

Regularly scheduled gallery programs are as follows:

 

Sources

Vancouver Art Gallery
Tourism Vancouver
Wikipedia
Vancouver Sun – New Vancouver Art Gallery
Vancouver Sun – VAG unveils new plans