Culture queen

Susan Point's "Spindle Whorl" exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery isn't part of the university course I'm taking about arts in Vancouver, but in the spirit of  paying more attention to the culture around me, I  took a look. It's very beautifully done. Photo by John.

I wondered why John chose this spot for a photograph. But it's a "point" at the Point show. Only a photographer would think like that! 

For someone who lives in a city well supplied with music, cinema, theatre and visual art of all kinds, I am a slacker. My friend Linda dragged me to two movies in the last few months, but I have gone whole years without setting foot in a cinema. John and I used to like seeing plays in small theatres, but we fell out of the habit years ago. Music? Nah. Art galleries? The occasional whip through a photo show with John, and every once in a long while, the Vancouver Art Gallery – usually disappointing.

I blame it all on years of working the night shift; I learned long ago to tune out the arts scene because I couldn’t go anyway. My habits were set by the time I retired and nothing changed.

But everything is different now. Thanks to the Simon Fraser University course I’m taking (Arts, Criticism and the City), I have been to two (2)!! plays in the last couple of weeks. I have heard lectures from theatre critic Jerry Wasserman and local playwright Peter Dickinson, and on Monday I’ll be at a “contemporary piano concert” by Peter Czink.  Getting into the swing of things on my own, I recently saw Susan Point’s “Spindle Whorl” show at the Vancouver Art Gallery with John, and on Friday, I dragged John and two friends to the DOXA Documentary Film Festival to see Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, about my city-activist hero Jane Jacobs.

Still ahead in my SFU course are modern dance, fine art, a trip to the Audain Art Museum in Whistler and much, much more. By the time this is over, I may be running in a new groove altogether. Can you say Culture Queen?