A cultural afternoon

February 22, 2025

Today, my friend Wendy was going to art class in Victoria and this was my first time to visit downtown on a Saturday with more people around and more places open . Wendy very kindly dropped me at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria which was a good way from downtown central, housed in a mansion. My first need upon arrival was to have a coffee in their cafe. No cafe !!!!! Cafe near by? about 10 minute walk back down the road i had just been driven up. So to get my steps in , because, I had not had a drink by this time of day even the pouring rain did not dissuade me. Found a nice cafe, ordered a scramble egg brioche and drip coffee and all was set, lunch and dinner in one.

Walked back to the museum and I was very glad I did because this was a very pleasant experience , More like a museum than a gallery in that its focus is on short term exhibitions that focus on their collection as well as other other programs . Right now there are 3 exbibitions; Banksy and Warhol; works from the permanent collection of regional painters ,( sadly only one that i recently learned as Emily Carr) and the art of Kintsugi . The Banksey work was interesting to see given that so much of it is known and recognised but i have never seen an original. I had also forgotten that he comes from Bristol England , where I was in college and where we lived for several years before moving to USA. All the labels posted beside his work mention his name as expected but "British b? " is all we get for his biography. For those of you who may not know the work of Banksy , he is totally anonymous, pointing to the fact he is typically making a statement about the role of art and its use in society but not no ulterior motive for himself as a person. The work was interesting as was the more familiar works of Warhol, Lichtenstein and Wesselman , all big names in late 20th. century art in USA . This is a small museum but here was a survey of some major works in art history.

Perhaps the most fascinating and smaller display was the work of Naoko Kukumaru a Japanese artist /craftesperson why has fully explored the technique of Kintsugi. This amazing work relates to the old tradition of repairing broken vessels in such a way that the repair itself becomes a celebrated part of the restored piece of ceramic or glass.The notion is that the repair brings not only new life but also new meaning to the vessel . I am not sure it is utilitarian after the repair because the seams of glue or lacquer used for the process are often coloured with gold, making them more visible rather than less so.

The other section of the museum was the painting collection with some fine examples displayed, salon style ,in accordance with the period of history when many of the artists were working. Salon style refers to heavily stacked displays on the walls, sometimes almost to the floor and a variety of framing styles.

I found an art supply store back towards downtown , purchased 3 oil pastels and found my way to meet Wendy at the precise moment she walked out of the building. She is giving me tips on places to take Kieran and Lauren during their visit here in a few week . s it quickly became apparent that the mayhem of US politics is a point of contention ,Wendy told me of the new wave of discomfort in the public arena whereby events such as the USA.v. Canada hockey match involved some adverse booing etc during the games that would never have occured before. The times have changed and it may be too much to cure a long and peaceful relationship.. lastly as i was checking for something as i write this, i read that there was a 2.7 earthquake here yesterday !!