The Glenbow is Calgary’s Art and History Museum. It is located in downtown Calgary, across the street from the Calgary Tower. There is an eclectic array of displays from their permanent collection, as well as space for traveling or special exhibits. It seemed like almost anyone would be able to find something to enjoy. And, while you could probably spend an entire day – or even multiple days – to see everything in detail, you could also see much of it in a few hours and not feel totally overwhelmed.
The Permanent Exhibitions include a variety of Western Canadian history, from first peoples to the railroads; a mineralogy exhibit, and art and artifacts from West Africa. Yeah, sorta random, but interesting. And they did encourage/allow touching of some of the West African pieces, although sadly not the drums.
When I visited, the special exhibits were Ladylikeness: Historical Portraits of Women by Women, and Nick Cave Feat., both of which I enjoyed immensely. Although united by subject matter theme, the portraits were by no means uniform – displaying diversity of styles. It was neat to see the different approaches to portraiture, and the successes achieved despite, in many cases, lack of encouragement, or even discouragement from pursuing art.
And Nick Cave! I’d maybe seen some pictures of his work? But they wouldn’t have really done it justice. So. Much. Going. On. The bulk of the exhibit were his Soundsuits, which are wearable assemblages, but there were other pieces as well, colorful and fantastic. I quite enjoyed my entire visit of the museum, and that exhibit really put it over the top.
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