Day 93 - Glenbow Museum

Holly had mentioned this was a good museum to check and this concurred with my guidebook. I walked into the museum and asked for a ticket and the dude at the counter asked student or adult? I said adult unless he wanted to give me the student price. He said “OK” and gave me the student price – bonus – must try this remark again some time.

Started on the 2nd floor and generally had pieces from Calgary’s early days as they related to resources of the province. I saw this early model chainsaw and from a design point of view, love the rugged, raw industrial feel that it has.



Next up wondered up another level and they had the development of Calgary area since the first white man appeared on the land. They had a couple of tipi displays that you could go into and a commentary on how you had to earn the right to be able to paint certain designs through elaborate ceremonies. That was kinda interesting cause if someone told me I couldn’t draw something, that would almost be the first thing I’d try (reverse psychology stuff).



The display then continued around the varying decades and the 1900s was interesting. They had the old washboards and then the ‘new and improved’ washing machines. Here is a picture of one of the new labour saving devices.



The interesting thing was the promotional material from the 1910s promoting the benefits of the newer washing machines. It is always fascinating to see the marketing techniques from various periods. They relied on upselling the benefits of the product with illustrations where as today, most products seem to be sold on the basis the target market is stupid and will pay attention to sex.



Finally managed to see the old style refrigerator after hearing about these things for years. Basically this is from about the 1920s and you put ice or cold water in the top cylinder compartment. This helps to keep the whole thing cool.



On the next level up was a 5 century warriors display and more great reference material. They also had this bit of ivory which I thought was pretty ironic given my rant yesterday about it. The tusk itself was huge. This was either from one massive elephant or possibly a woolly mammoth – it was about 2m long.



Next up was a rock display and the coolest part was this florescent / glow in the dark rocks. Here are some lights on and off photos of the same rocks so you get an idea.





Around the place was various painting and photography exhibits which I found really interesting. The artists were working from predominately a European tradition but adapting it to the Canadian wilderness and environment. Next time in Canada, I’ll have to come during summer so I can get out doors for some landscapes.

Last up was an African art exhibit. This was particularly interesting as they had numerous woodcarvings with exaggerated features. Seeing this, you could understand Picasso’s style as just a westernised version of African art.