A rainy day in Edmonton

We’d scurried through the rain last evening after dinner and the forecast for today was none too good. After the high temperatures of last week, 13°C was a bit of a shock and the rain merely added to the challenge.

We had planned this morning some time ago though, when we’d booked ourselves on to a tour of the Alberta Legislature. The email confirmation was quite fierce about the need to be punctual, which meant that we were there way before our assigned time slot.

Parking the car had been a small challenge too, since the map we’d downloaded didn’t appear to be terribly accurate. Never mind. We were there, ready and waiting when the doors opened and we were allowed inside.

Tour 117 was a group of about 15 people, led by Jacqueline who was dressed in her Alberta Tartan waistcoat.

The first point of interest was a statue of the Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, who arrived with her husband when he was appointed Governor General in 1898. When the Province was formed and joined the federation, it was named after her.

The Legislature was similar to that of Saskatchewan and we soon learned of the rivalry between the two provinces. Our tour continued in the area beneath the rotunda then, where we learned a little of the structure of the building.

At the top of the grand staircase were the mahogany doors to the chamber with the arms of Alberta above it. Surprisingly, we didn’t enter the chamber through these doors but turned around and looked around the portrait gallery instead.

Jacqueline explained that those doors were only to be used by the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker, and any visiting dignataries. We weren’t offended by that slight.

Also on this level was a glass case with a couple of maces and black rods inside. As in our own parliament and that in Saskatchewan, the mace is a symbol of authority and is laid on a beaver pelt during working sessions. The mace in the photograph above was created during an emergency, in super quick time by a local craftsman who was creative with some components. We learned that some of those components were a door knob, a piece of a flush mechanism from a toilet cistern and other bits and pieces which, when glued together could be sprayed gold and pass as a ceremonial object. The “emergency” mace was used for fifty years until it was replaced by a “real” one.

We were shown into the chamber by a side door and sure enough, what we saw was virutally the same as we’d seen in Saskatoon, only Alberta has 89 seats. Currently the balance of power is as closely matched as it’s ever been, with 46 on the majority Government side and 43 opposition (just 1 independent amongst them).

Now we’d seen the “main event”, Jacqueline led us quickly out into the lobby again and along to a sweet spot outside the Lieutenant Governor’s office where the acoustics of the dome created a strange effect. On the way, however, I spotted a display of something interesting about which I wanted to know more.

The story of the “Famous Five” was one I’d heard of earlier and knew to be important. But with tours being timed precisely and the next group assembling, Jacqueline needed to get us all back downstairs again.

We became the “naughty group” then, thinking that we’d use the excuse of waiting for the lift to arrive to explain why we took a little longer to get downstairs! I snapped a picture and scribbled enough to find out more once I was home. The details can be found here and ‘Emily Murphy’ tells her story below.

We didn’t keep Jacqueline waiting long of course and in fact, were not even the last of our group to hand in our passes and offer our thanks. We did, however, welcome the recommendation of the nearby Legislature Visitor’s Centre though and made our way there next.

The pouring rain motivated us to hurry!

Though when we arrived, we weren’t sure we had got the correct place. For the next ten or fifteen minutes we wandered around empty corridors, went up in the lift (and back down again), not seeing anything vaguely like a visitor’s centre at all.

Eventually, there was a light at the end of the corridor and we stumbled upon a group of staff waiting to show people into the series of experiences we had been looking for. Firstly, to the Pehonan Theatre for an immersive video show. Next, the Borealis Gallery where a large portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth took centre stage and the surrounding exhibits offered details of the artist’s process and the small details in the work.

For example, the two Corgis on the back of the chair, by her hand.

In common with their counterparts in Saskatchewan, a formal portrait of King Charles III is eagerly awaited! (We said we’d put in a word, maybe give someone a nudge.)

With the rain still coming down hard and mindful of many of these places being closed on Mondays, we continued our indoor day by driving to the art gallery, noticing the car opposite as we went, I understand it’s the equivalent of our PCSO - a Community Support Officer?

The Art Gallery of Alberta is housed in a very distinctive building. It being Father’s Day, my Hero was given free admission, too.

Though we began with the Dance Party exhibit, we found that one pretty difficult to “get”, so moved right along to something we knew we’d enjoy, From Warhol to Banksy.

The incredible thing is, that all of this art is from the collection of just one couple, Paul and Tracy Mitchell, of Kelowna. We’d never seen eight Marilyns like this, not even in the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh!

And…

There was another one around the corner too! The ninth Marilyn “with the bullet hole” had the story alongside.

Also around the corner was a collection of a dozen or so Lichtensteins,

a couple of incredibly precise screenprints by Tom Wesselmann (new to me)

and, remembered from a fantastic exhibition we saw in Chicago, a handful of small works by Takashi Murakami.

We were only half way through!

I had not come across the LA-based Mr Brainwash before, but Mary was familiar with his work which has been likened to that of Banksy, speaking of whom….

Here was the largest collection of his work I’ve seen, including the Girl with Balloon, which I remembered for the shredding incident following its sale. Here was also a fifteen minute video about the artist and his work, including the auction where the shredding took place. Also included was the project Dismaland which was created not a million miles from our home in Gloucestershire but which we didn’t get to see.

Mindful of the need to move on and ever grateful to Paul and Tracy Mitchell for sharing their incredible collection of art here, we made our way to the gallery showing the work of Kenzie Housego.

Described as blending “embroidery with digital technologies” my Hero immediately identified it as being right up my street.

I can’t say that any of the three of us were really inspired however, sad to say. Perhaps we’re not quite the target audience for a collection themed on “dating, courtship and flirting”?

Downstairs, however, was something which immediately struck a chord.

Some Cree script? Mention of Cree teachings about cycles of the moon? I love it when something I’ve come across recently turns up again in a different setting altogether, and look what I spotted on the gallery wall here…

and

I’m not sure I’m any the wiser about Cree syllabics really though, even if I can recognise them :-)

What amused me most was this crowd. Can you guess what they are looking at/laughing about?

It’s the exhibition of 18th Century prints by the English engraver William Hogarth! Who’d have thought that such traditional and historic images could provoke such interest? (I am sure they don’t have such appeal for their “home audience”!)

By the way, isn’t that green a wonderful foil for those black and white prints?

It was still pouring with rain, so my Hero did what Heroes do and ran to get the car whilst Mary and I waited under cover, watching the torrent of rain fall from the roof of the gallery until the white vehicle (I still have no idea what it is!) pulled up outside and we ran to get in quickly.

This evening, we went out for dinner at Three Vikings. Very good it was too!

(It’s taken me a little longer to complete my blog this evening as I’m sitting here chatting to my friend Jane in NYC at the same time. It’s not often that we are in “almost” the same time zone - well, close enough to chat - so we’re making the most of it!)