Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age: 14
- Grade: 9
Description
Quintessential British Columbia revealed through the eyes of its greatest artists and writers.
Visions of British Columbia took as its starting point a major exhibition at the Vancouver Art Galley, opening to coincide with the 2010 Winter Games. The show focused on the work of more than twenty remarkable artists, including the Haida masters Bill Reid and Robert Davidson; Kwakwaka’wakw carver Willie Seaweed; modernist painters Emily Carr and Group of Seven member Frederick Varley; mentors and pioneers Jack Shadbolt and B.C. Binning; abstract painter Gordon Smith; photoconceptualists Ian Wallace and Jeff Wall; Salish artist Susan Point, Haida-Manga artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas and Korean-Canadian Jin-me Yoon.
Allied to the art is writing about B.C. from acclaimed authors as diverse as Douglas Coupland, Timothy Taylor, Ethel Wilson, Audrey Thomas and Wayson Choy. Malcolm Lowry’s poem Happiness echoes B.C. Binning’s colourful seascapes; Daphne Marlatt’s reflections on overfishing parallel Susan Point’s salmon sculpture. Both text and art speak to the diverse visions of this place, its peoples and its histories.
This book was published in partnership with the Vancouver Art Gallery.
About the authors
Bruce Grenville is senior curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery and coordinating curator of this exhibit. He has organized many exhibitions, including Massive Change, a major international show by Bruce Mau Design and the Institute without Boundaries.
Awards
- Winner, Alcuin Award for Best Pictorial Book Design
- Winner, City of Vancouver Book Award
Librarian Reviews
Visions of British Columbia: A Landscape Manual
Based on the Vancouver Art Gallery’s exhibit shown during the 2010 Olympics, this gorgeous publication leads us to an understanding of the extra ordinary diversity of our province. Full-page reproductions are complemented by selected writings. These literary entries, all less than 800 words, are varied and accessible. They represent the work of BC poets, journalists, novelists and figures writing about BC such as anthropologist Franz Boas. The work presented in the book — both visual and literary — extends from the traditional to the contemporary. Highly recommended.Author and artist biographies are included as is information about the artworks.
Caution: References to soft drugs.
Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. BC Books for BC Schools. 2010-2011.
