Vancouver Art Gallery and other visual-art venues start to open their doors again

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      With hand sanitizer and two-metre distancing measures in place, the city's art galleries are slowly starting to reopen to visitors.

      The Vancouver Art Gallery has announced it will welcome artsgoers starting on Monday (June 15), with free, early access for BC’s frontline workers during the first week (Tuesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to noon). 

      The gallery will limit the building’s capacity and use floor markers and signage to prevent congestion.  For our full four floors, Gallery capacity will be 225 visitors at a time. Online timed-entry ticketing based on one-hour intervals should be purchased from the VAG website in advance. Only a limited number of on-site tickets will be available.

      The VAG reopens with Shuvinai Ashoona – Mapping Worlds and lineages and land bases on view; both shows have been extended to August.  New exhibitions that were slated to open in March will now open on June 15: The Tin Man Was a Dreamer: Allegories, Poetics and Performances of Power and NEXT: Matilda Aslizadeh – Moly and Kassandra. The Modern in the Making: Post-War Craft and Design in British Columbia showwhich was scheduled for a May opening, will now open on July 18.

      The CAG is already welcoming visitors, via prebooked times.

      Meanwhile the Contemporary Art Gallery has already reopened its doors, with the exhibition The Artist’s Studio is Her Bedroom on view until July 5. The facility's capacity is reduced, and entry is limited to prebooked visits.

      The show features work by Steven Brekelmans, Justine A. Chambers, Brady Cranfield, Maura Doyle, Claire Greenshaw, Leisure (Meredith Carruthers & Susannah Wesley), Annie MacDonell, Erica Stocking, and Damla Tamer. It spans photo-based work, drawing, installations, and movement practice.

      Beginning Thursday, June 18, North Van's Polygon Gallery will reopen its main floor with The Canucks: A Photo History of Vancouver's Team--photos spanning the 1950s and ’60s when the Vancouver Canucks played in the Western Hockey League and then the team’s franchising with the National Hockey League from 1970 onward. The Polygon shop and bookstore will also be open.

      And the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, which is celebrating the centennial birthday of Bill Reid (1920-1998), is now open and has announced it will launch the show To Speak With a Golden Voice on July 16.

      The exhibition, guest curated by Gwaai Edenshaw, includes rarely seen treasures by Reid and works from artists inspired by his legacy, such as Robert Davidson and Beau Dick. Two new artworks by contemporary artist Cori Savard and singer-songwriter Kinnie Starr will also be featured.

      As reported here last week, the Museum of Vancouver and Vancouver Maritime Museum have already opened.

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