Vancouver Art Gallery

Looking for the perfect day out? There's no better place to spend the long weekend than at the Gallery.

🔎 From a deep dive into the culture of zines in "Copy Machine Manifestos" to a vibrant exploration of colour in a variety of mediums in "A Monochrome Journey," there is so much to enjoy at the Gallery this summer.

✨ Come in and get inspired. Book tickets at www.vanartgallery.bc.ca.

🕰️ LONG WEEKEND HOURS
Saturday: 10 AM–5 PM
Sunday: 10 AM–5 PM
Monday: 10 AM–5 PM

Images: Installation views of “Black and White and Everything In Between: A Monochrome Journey,” exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery from June 9 to November 3, 2024, and “Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines,” exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery from May 12 to September 22, 2024, Photos: Vancouver Art Gallery

For conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner (1942–2021), posters were “a means of making all kinds of information public.” He loved the idea of the poster, which for him was “really the writing on the wall. When all the traditional situations are closed to you for political, aesthetic, or personal reasons, it’s a possibility of making an intervention.”

Weiner started making posters in the 1960s because they allowed his art to reach a broad public. Weiner composed each poster as an interplay between language and graphics that both upheld and upturned the conventions of the form. He even developed his own fonts!

Graphic design lovers, rejoice! The exhibition “OF & ABOUT POSTERS” is for you.

Discover Lawrence Weiner’s playful and thoughtful posters at the Gallery now through August 25. Plan your visit at https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/exhibitions/lawrence-weiner-posters.

Since the 1970s, Vancouver has had a robust zine culture, one that emerged around the Western Front community and continues to exist in our city today.

In 1972, Canadian mail artist John Jack Baylin (aka Count Fanzini) started the “John Dowd F***y Club,” a semi-fictitious fan club for the Brooklyn–based artist and designer John Dowd.

That summer, a Vancouver gathering of “club” members spawned the John Dowd F***y Club Fanzine. Dowd visited Vancouver for the group’s inaugural meeting, which was attended by local artists and members of General Idea and Image Bank.

The 1972 gathering initiated a series of publishing collaborations between Baylin and Dowd and steady correspondence by mail over the next few years. Their zines, like Fanzine/Fanzini, were primarily created from their mail exchanges and were distributed through the correspondence network.

Today, a selection of Dowd and Baylin’s works are held in the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery’s archives, and many of them have been included in the exhibition “Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Makes Zines,” now on view until September 22!

Plan your visit to learn more at https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/exhibitions/copy-machine-manifestos.

Images: Bud Lee, AA Bronson, John Jack Baylin, John Dowd, Felix Partz and Zeke Smolinsky during Decca-Dance, 1974, colour transparency, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Morris/Trasov Archive, © Bud Lee Picture Maker Inc.; Installation view of “Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Makes Zines,” exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery from May 12 to September 22, 2024

Art truly is for everyone! 🦆🦆

👀 Have you seen these large-scale sculptures by internationally renowned artist Hank Willis Thomas at the Gallery’s public art space Offsite yet?

This installation is the first time three of Thomas’ polished stainless-steel sculptures have been exhibited together.

Waddle down West Georgia to discover these new monuments for our time! FInd out more at https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/exhibitions/offsite-hank-willis-thomas

Images: Installation views of “Offsite: Hank Willis Thomas,” exhibition at Vancouver Art Gallery Offsite from June 7, 2024 to April 27, 2025, Photos: Scarlet Pilozow

🔎 Did you know that the Gallery’s collections are in active use? Works are presented in exhibitions at the Gallery and are loaned to other institutions locally, nationally and internationally.

Discover the collection beyond Gallery walls in “Unit Bruises: Theodore Wan & Paul Wong” presented at the Richmond Art Gallery until June 30.

💭 Want to learn more about Theodore Wan’s works and creative process? Mark your calendars for this insightful online talk!

🌟Online Panel Discussion: The Work of Theodore Wan
🗓 Thursday, June 27, 2024
⏰ 6:30–7:30 PM
🔗 Register at https://www.richmondartgallery.org/wan-panel

Guest curator Michael Dang leads a panel discussion with artists Christos Dikeakos, Paul Hess, and curator Christine Conley to discuss Theodore Wan’s contribution to the Canadian performance art scene of the 1970s. The panel will focus on questions of creativity within the social climate of that era and explore some local art history within the early days of Canadian artist-run culture.

This free talk will be presented on Zoom. Registration is required.

Image: Theodore Sasketche Wan, “Bridine Scrub For General Surgery,” 1977 (detail), 10 silver gelatin prints, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, VAG 88.19.26; Installation views of “Unit Bruises: Theodore Wan & Paul Wong, 1975-1979,” exhibition at Richmond Art Gallery, April 20 to June 30, 2024, Photo: Michael Love, Courtesy of the Richmond Art Gallery

The touring exhibition “Stories that animate us” opens at the Kelowna Art Gallery this Saturday, June 22!

Across the Province is the Gallery’s provincial touring program, which offers communities throughout BC opportunities to access exhibitions focusing on our permanent collection. Since 2006, the Gallery has organized and circulated more than 15 such exhibitions.

Storytelling—its scope and ongoing significance—lies at the heart of “Stories that animate us.” First shown at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2021, the exhibition highlights a rich selection of works on paper and animations and draws from a diverse range of oral histories, narratives, knowledge systems and cosmologies.

Featured artists include Joyce Wieland, David Hockney, Robert Davidson, Amanda Strong, Francisco de Goya, Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo, Marina Roy, Jérôme Havre, Cauleen Smith, Camille Turner, Ed Pien and the Royal Art Lodge.

“Stories that animate us” is organized and circulated by the Vancouver Art Gallery under the Across the Province program and is curated by Diana Freundl, Senior Curator and Zoë Chan, former Assistant Curator.

Summer has officially arrived in Vancouver ☀️ Happy Solstice!

Stay cool this weekend with a visit to the Gallery’s temperature-controlled exhibitions, including “Black and White and Everything In Between: A Monochrome Journey.” An ode to monochrome, the exhibition celebrates artistic possibilities through varying styles, genres, themes and mediums, including scent and sound-based expressions.

In the yellow room, the artworks give off a dynamic energy, and B.C. Binning’s “Summer Sun” (1966) pulsates with vibrant, yellow rays, approaching a state of transcendence.

Immerse yourself in a monochromatic, visual feast at the Gallery now! Plan your visit at https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/exhibitions/a-monochrome-journey.

Image: B.C Binning, “Summer Sun,” 1966, oil on canvas, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Gift of the Estate of Jessie Binning, Photo: Vancouver Art Gallery

We are delighted to be partnering with our friends at Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies - SFU and The Ismaili Centre Vancouver to present a conversation with celebrated Canadian novelist and playwright Anosh Irani and SFU scholar-in-residence Dr. Amyn Sajoo.

This free event will take place on June 27 from 5:30–7:30 PM at Harbour Centre.

Register at https://events.sfu.ca/event/40146-2024-5-onstage-conversations-cultures-of-belonging

2024-5 Onstage Conversations: Cultures of Belonging with Anosh Irani and Amyn Sajoo Migrant journeys aspire to a new homeland, with fresh affiliations. But what of modernity’s multiple homelands, where old and new belongings stub...

Happy Father’s Day! In celebration of all the dads out there, we asked Vancouver artists—and father and daughter—Ewan and Jessie McNeil to share their thoughts on being artists and parents, as well as what it means to them to have a shared passion for the arts. Both Ewan and Jessie are represented by the Gallery’s Vancouver Art Rental & Sales Program.

Read their interview at https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/in-conversation-ewan-and-jessie-mcneil.

We look forward to welcoming you and your dad to the Gallery to make new memories together.

Limited spaces remaining! Immerse your young artists in a week of creativity at our upcoming Summer Camp for ages 7–10. 🎨

🤔 This summer, campers will discover the Gallery as they look at, think about, discuss and create art in new, creative and thoughtful ways! Campers will have the opportunity to explore four exhibitions through hands-on activities and tours.

Summer Camp at the Gallery
📆 July 22–26, 9 AM–1 PM
📍Vancouver Art Gallery

🖼 At the end of the week, campers will celebrate with a Summer Camp 2024 exhibition on the final day of the camp, where work will be displayed and shared with family and friends.

Registration is required. Capacity is limited to 20 participants. Register your campers at https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/events/summer-camp-2024-2

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vancouver’s most famous and influential architect, Arthur Erickson.

Did you know that Arthur Erickson was behind the conversion of the Provincial Courthouse into the current home of the Vancouver Art Gallery?

When Erickson’s firm undertook the design of the Robson Plaza in 1974, they were also engaged to incorporate the Old Courthouse building, which had been declared a provincial heritage site. At the time, they determined that “the most promising” idea was to convert the courthouse into a new space for the Vancouver Art Gallery, which had outgrown its original home at 1145 Georgia Street.

To meet the requirements for a world-class museum, the Old Courthouse was virtually gutted and had to be renovated to conform to rigorous museum standards of light and heat regulation, as well as security.

Government grants were augmented by funds raised through a successful public campaign called “Take the Gallery to Court.” Construction began in December 1981. The new Vancouver Art Gallery was opened to the public in October 1983.

A few of the original rooms remain from the 1906 structure, designed by Sir Francis Mawson Rattenbury (1867-1935), but Erickson put a lot of care into the preservation of the building and the blending of the old with the new. Today, the Gallery’s Rotunda is still thought of as a masterpiece of historic renovation.

Happy birthday, Arthur!

For more information about the Gallery's current building, visit https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/history

Celebrate the men you love this Father's Day! Spoil the father figure in your life with the perfect unique gift from the Gallery, including a year of art experiences with the Gift of Membership.

💝 Purchase a Gift of Membership between June 14 and 16, 2024, and your loved one will receive 14 months of art (that’s two bonus months!). Give dad unlimited access to all of the exhibitions on view, exclusive invitations to exhibition previews, three one-time-use guest passes and more.

☕️ On Sunday, June 16, Members will receive a complimentary coffee or tea for you and your loved one. Pick up a drink voucher from the Membership Desk to redeem this special offer.

🔗 Plan a visit to the Gallery this weekend, we are open from 10 AM to 5 PM on Saturday and Sunday! For more information, visit https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/membership

Vancouver artist Stan Douglas is the first to participate in our newest Curatorial initiative, 1:1 Artists Select, which invites artists to select a work from the Gallery’s extensive collection to be displayed in dialogue with their own in the Forecourt.

This photograph by Douglas presents the hilly landscape of Walhachin, BC—a community in the Thompson River Valley—and is part of his “Western” series depicting British Columbian landscapes and interiors associated with 19th-century westward expansion.

The image features the Walhachin quarry, which has been active since the 1970s. Photographed in a sweeping, cinematic style, Douglas’ work calls attention to the ongoing history of resource extraction in the area. Although devoid of humans, Douglas’ photograph describes the layered effect of human intervention and labour on the land, while also referencing the Canadian painting tradition that mythologized the landscape as vast and empty.

Visit the Gallery now through July 21 to see Douglas’ photograph in conversation with a painting he selected by Lawren Harris, a founding member of the Group of Seven! Plan your visit at https://bit.ly/3Ru5MdN.

Image: Stan Douglas, “Walhachin,” 2006, chromogenic print, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Gift of the Artist, VAG 2007.8.3

Join us this Saturday for our first Zine Night, hosted by artist Sonja Ahlers and friends!

The evening will begin with a short zine demo by Sonja, then participants are invited to explore their creativity by self-publishing their own zine, while mingling with friends, old and new.

At 6:15 PM, Sonja will lead a spotlight tour of the exhibition “Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines” where she will introduce her own collection of zines that are on view.

Zine Night with Sonja Ahlers and Friends
📆 June 14, 5:30–8:30 PM
📍 Annex Workshop, Vancouver Art Gallery

Zine Night Exhibition Show-and-Tell with Sonja Ahlers
📆 June 14, 6:15 PM
📍 2nd Floor, Vancouver Art Gallery

This making session is free and offered on a drop-in basis. Advanced registration is recommended. Seating is first come, first served.

Register at https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/events/zine-night-jun-14/

Images: Visitors making zines at Art Party, May 2024, Photo: ; Visitors making zines at Art Party, May 2024, Photo: Sheng Ho

NOW ON VIEW! “Black and White and Everything In Between: A Monochrome Journey” opens today, June 9.

Featuring over 60 artists and more than 100 artworks, “Black and White and Everything In Between” is an ode to the monochrome, celebrating its artistic possibilities through varying styles, genres, themes and mediums, including scent and sound-based expressions.

Drawn almost entirely from the Gallery’s collection, works by international artists—such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Cy Twombly, Lui Shou-Kwan, Anish Kapoor, Agnes Martin and Rachel Whiteread—are shown alongside local artists Mina Totino, Evan Lee, Andrew Dadson, Liz Magor and Neil Campbell, among many others. Vancouver artist Khan Lee welcomes visitors before they enter the Gallery with a special window project on the Georgia Street facade, while inside the exhibition, an immersive installation by James Turrell bathes viewers in light.

Immerse yourself in this monochromatic, visual feast at the Gallery now! We are open 7 days a week for the summer season. Plan your visit at https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/exhibitions/a-monochrome-journey/

Organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Diana Freundl, Senior Curator, with Joanne So Jeong Chung, Curatorial Assistant

We acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia.

Accessibility Partner:
The Imperial Fund via West Vancouver Foundation

NOW ON VIEW! The Gallery is proud to present three major sculptures by acclaimed New York–based artist Hank Willis Thomas at Offsite, located at 1100 West Georgia Street. This installation is the first time three of Thomas’ polished stainless-steel sculptures have been exhibited together.

Take a walk down West Georgia to see “Offsite: Hank Willis Thomas,” now on view until April 27, 2025!

Find out more about the works on display at https://bit.ly/3Xbo8Eg

June is Indigenous History Month! Join us for a special edition of The Making Place on Sunday, June 23.

Learn more about Indigenous cultures through storytelling, necklace design and drawing with artists Xwemilut Lisa Lewis and Ungwa-Kasu Chris L. Wilson through guided workshops.

The Making Place | Necklace Making & Storytelling Workshop with Xwemilut Lisa Lewis

📆 June 23, 11 AM
📆 June 23, 1PM

The Making Place | Drawing Workshop with Ungwa-Kasu Chris L. Wilson
📆 June 23, 12:30 PM
📆 June 23, 2:30 PM

Register at https://bit.ly/4efph3t

Both workshops are suitable for ages 7 and up. No previous experience required. Supplies will be provided. Four sessions will be offered between 11 AM and 4 PM. Capacity for each session is limited. Registration is required.

The Making Place is free for Gallery Members and Access Pass Holders or with Gallery Admission. Free for children 12 and under, when accompanied by an adult. Youth 18 and under always visit free!

This week, we’re launching our summer season of exhibitions with “Black and White and Everything In Between: A Monochrome Journey,” “Offsite: Hank Willis Thomas” and “1:1 Artists Select.”

Become a Gallery Member to enjoy unlimited access to all of the exhibitions for a year and to preview select exhibitions before they open to the public! You’ll be invited to special members-only events, like our Art Opens Summer Celebration, happening this Saturday, June 8!

Become a member today at https://bit.ly/2UEXjqA

Images: Vikky Alexander, “Obsession,” 1983, silver gelatin print, vinyl, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Gift of the Artist, VAG 2000.49.2 a-b, Photo: Vancouver Art Gallery

Limited seats remaining! Join us this Friday, June 7 for a conversation with renowned artists Dana Claxton and Hank Willis Thomas, moderated by Eva Respini, Deputy Director & Director of Curatorial Programs.

Intersections of Identity: Body, Race and Culture in Contemporary Art
A Conversation with Hank Willis Thomas and Dana Claxton

📆 June 7, 6:30 PM
📍 UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street

The artists will discuss their work and how they each explore the commodification of culture, race and gender through the lens of art.

🔗 Register for this talk now at https://bit.ly/3VwOrn7