Dear Liza,
Since Auntie Bridgett is an artist, we love to visit art museums when we go traveling. The main museum here is the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Inside the museum, we found Maura, a fellow sketchbook artist from Connecticut, and she and Auntie Bridgett talked about art supplies. They were like two kids comparing toys! It was sweet.
Moving along, we found the Alberto Giacometti exhibit. You would recognize his work by his very tall, thin figures.
The exhibit also included artists whose work influenced Giacometti, including this work by Kenneth Armitage. It shows three figures standing together. I like it because it reminds me of Grandpa Nelson, Auntie Bridgett and me, going through life together.
Upstairs was a show of Robert Rauschenberg, a printmaker who worked in the 1950s and 1960s, including using some NASA-provided materials to make wonderful modern art about the moon launch.
We walked some more around the Gallery, but really liked the building itself more than any of the exhibits, so we headed off into the rain. We found yummy soups and ciders at The Lennox Pub and then onto a very spectacular library. Yep, the library.
Built in 1995, the design of this magnificent place was chosen by competition and public voting. It soars 9 stories, reminds us of the Roman colosseum, and has roof top garden!
There is a floor just for kids’ activities, another for “study groups”, another as a “Quiet floor.” It really has something for everyone, all in a a bright, innovative space. We never wanted to leave, but we had reservations for dinner.
After some downtime, we got a cab to Frankie’s Jazz Club. The Aintzler Quartet, lead by their ninety-something clarinet-playing patriarch who goes by “Pop”, played jazz by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and lots of other greats. It was a musical, delicious evening. We got in late and slept like dead people.
Love,
Grandma Judy
Dear Liza 