Monday 1 October 2012

Leaving the Museum











Maybe the thing that impressed me most about the Museum of Civilization is that there were so many examples of Canadian Indigenous artworks. The skylight was wonderful as was a huge mural and the Inuit carvings were displayed in wide spaces like the vast expanses in the north. The Pacific Northwest long-house totem poles were authentic. The First Nations were acknowledged in every area and honoured for their contributions to opening our country up for settlement. One Metis artist, Bob Boyer, worked mainly with painting on blankets. This one below, called Smallpox, sent a deadly message. It tells a true but disgusting story that I don't want to explain unless you ask.

The Queen's Jubilee exhibit on the entrance (second) floor was well received. It concentrated only on her visits and relationships with Canada. The dress with embroidered blue maple leafs that she wore to a State dinner years ago and was a big hit with the ladies wandering around the Jubilee exhibit. I was floored to look at the needlework involved and I am not into fashion much. Using blues for the maple leaf embroidery was a brilliant touch.

The colours do not show up well in these pictures but in the big glass case they looked more blue than green to me.
I did a quick tour of the Postal Service museum that has samples of every stamp ever made in Canada, and then went on to take in the Mayan exhibit. I was most impressed with their incense burners. I left over an hour later, trying to figure out the question, “Why did they leave these monumental constructions and move out to the coasts and disperse?” There are many theories.  I think they ran out of firewood and fuel to support the thousands of people that lived there.  I don't suppose the droughts helped either.

Just as I got to the bottom floor, #1 Son phoned to say he would be picking me up in 20 minutes as the airshow was over. I was inside the First Nations Exhibit so I was okay with leaving as I see a lot of their history where-ever we travel. It is an interest of ours. # 1 Son is now working on a contract to build the interactive computer stations for the Voodoo exhibit, that will open on November 15. It was a glorious day. I also enjoyed having hours to be by myself and move at my own pace as I learned new things.



5 comments:

  1. Museums of civilizations are so interesting. Indigenous art works are the best, so pure, so true. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Kudos to the Curators at that Museum! They really did a wonderful and throughtful job with the artifacts and exhibits. I am always amazed when I walk through our pre-Columbian exhibit, here where I work. The art works are amazing, given the tools and media they had to work with. It's truly amazing that the pieces are still with us today. Awesome! Thanks for the interesting tour! The Queen's dress looks absolutely beautiful. Wish I could see it up close! I enjoyed this very much, Karyn!

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    1. I added another picture but you really had to see it up close to see how many hands and fingers worked for weeks on that dress. Also the leaves were royal blue and a sky blue but look green in the picture. Maybe they have faded.

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  3. 'honoured for their contributions to opening our country up for settlement' - that's one way of putting it! This is a beautifully curated set of exhibits. I really like the display of Inuit carvings.

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  4. I get frustrated with myself. I have a lot to learn about blogspot. I just wrote you a note and lost it somehow after I clicked on Publish. I was beginning to rant on a pro-native stance so maybe it was just as well. "honoured for the contributions to opening our country up for settlement" was probably a poor choice of phrase, especially if you ask them. They were willing to share their survival techniques, technology and support the crown in the War of 1812 but were not treated with integrity in return. There I go again. I will close my cakehole for a second time.

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