Browsing “Nature”

The Beaty Biodiversity Museum is Vancouver’s only natural history museum, dedicated to creating a shared sense of community and wonder. The museum puts UBC’s natural history collections, with more than two million specimens, on public view for the first time. Among our treasures are a 26-metre-long blue whale skeleton suspended in the Djavad Mowafaghian Atrium, the third-largest fish collection in the nation, and myriad fossils, shells, insects, fungi, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and plants from around British Columbia and the world.Come visit us – we’re located at 2212 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC. You can find more info at beatymuseum.ubc.ca

Opening today on the Gallery Wall at the Beaty Biodiversity Museun is a new exhibition, [a]drift, a stunning visual art series by printmaker Edith Kruase:

[a]drift
Edith Krause
May 9 – August 25, 2013

“If we are to protect the world’s multitude of places and creatures, then we must know them, not just conceptually, but imaginatively as well.”

- Wendell Berry, Life is a Miracle

In this visual art exhibition by Edith Krause, [a]drift presents human life-sized images of microscopic marine creatures. Merging the worlds of art and science, Krause chose portraiture, an art form traditionally reserved for humans, as her medium to showcase individual organisms while carefully avoiding the scientific habit of splaying them out for identification. She worked with them as characters in the actual poses she observed. While the images are mimetic, these enlarged portraits convey their ecological importance, reveal forms that are unfamiliar and fantastic, and make visible the invisible.

Biography

Edith Krause is a printmaker, currently living in Langley, British Columbia. She began her art studies at Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design and recently completed her MFA at the University of Alberta. Previously, she studied and worked in the fields of marine biology and aquatic ecology at the University of British Columbia and earned a Masters of Science degree in Zoology. Her interest in biology has been a major influence on the subject matter of her artwork and her current art practice consists of an interdisciplinary exploration of ecosystems, employing scientific methodology to collect images and data, and art to express her findings.

For more information on [a]drift and its upcoming artist talk, click here.

UBC Botanical Garden is Canada’s oldest continuously operating university botanical garden. The original mission of the garden was research into the native flora of British Columbia. Over the past nine decades, our mission has broadened to include research, conservation, teaching and public display of temperate plants from around the world, particularly Asian, alpine and native plants. We’re also home to the Greenheart Canopy Walkway.Come visit us – we’re located at 6804 SW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC. You can find more info at botanicalgarden.ubc.ca

April is an exceptional month for flowers at the Botanical Garden. Magnolias are in their ascendancy now, and daffodils and cherry blossoms are everywhere bringing cheer to Vancouver’s April showers. This is also definitely the month to see rhododendrons in the Garden. Every day brings another few species into bloom. Some of the most beautiful of these rhododendrons are in the David C. Lam Asian Garden, many from wild collections made in exotic locations in Asia.

Indeed, there are hundreds of different species here, and every one has a story to tell. One of the ways we tell those stories is through our smart phone tours. If you haven’t been in the garden lately, you might not have noticed small signs in a variety of colours that indicate the various self-guided tours we’ve compiled for visitors. One of these, the Rhododendron Study Tour, which will be completed before the end of this month, was made possible by a donation from the Vancouver Rhododendron Society.

Each of the tour stops is clearly numbered and has a graphical QR (quick response) code on the sign. Using a smart phone QR code reader (a number of different ones are available free on the Internet), one merely has to point the smart phone at the QR code, and the smart phone does the rest. For each stop on the tour is a short descriptive write up and a corresponding sound file. Tapping the play button allows you to hear the description read aloud.

Along with the Rhododendron Tour, visitors can listen to (or read) a Garden Introduction Tour (yellow signs), Prehistoric Plants Tour (beige signs), Vine Study Tour (light green signs), Plant Explorers in Asia Tour (black signs) and our newest, the Magnolia Tour (dark blue signs). Ask at the Gatehouse for maps of each of the tours.

Location: Way up high I was spoilt for choice this week so I thought I’d pick a couple of images with a common theme…photos of folks who have walked up big hills. The first, Untitled by Vanessa Griffiths, I chose for it’s simplicity and lush colours. There’s just something about the quality of the light here that caught my eye. You can tell by the long shadows that it’s a bit later in the day and the hikers have probably been working really hard to get to where they’re at, enjoying a much deserved relaxing moment in the sun.

Today’s second pick comes from the much celebrated camera of Nathan Reimer. He’s a regular here and looking at this image, it should be obvious why. Nathan really goes out of his way to get that perfect image and this one is no exception. Correct me if I’m wrong but it looks as if this was carefully planned, that Nathan didn’t just happen across a dude in a red suit, standing perfectly still and straight, waiting for his photo to be taken. That is just cool. On top of that, the contrast between snowy mountain and sunny coast makes the perfect setting for the contrast of red on white. Stark, a little spooky and very, very cool.

Thanks Nathan and Vanessa!

It’s that point in your consciousness where you can feel at one with nature, escaping the trappings of the day-to-day to an almost dream-like place where nothing else seems to exist besides you and your natural surroundings. It is our opinion here at VIA that Vancouver holds a unique place in the civilized world in that reaching this state often requires no more effort than simply pulling off to the side of the road, pocketing your keys and taking a few steps into the forest

The Beaty Biodiversity Museum is Vancouver’s only natural history museum, dedicated to creating a shared sense of community and wonder. The museum puts UBC’s natural history collections, with more than two million specimens, on public view for the first time. Among our treasures are a 26-metre-long blue whale skeleton suspended in the Djavad Mowafaghian Atrium, the third-largest fish collection in the nation, and myriad fossils, shells, insects, fungi, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and plants from around British Columbia and the world.Come visit us – we’re located at 2212 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC. You can find more info at beatymuseum.ubc.ca

On March 22, 2013, fashion historian Ivan Sayers gave an artist talk on the use of animal products in historical western fashion and featured items from the collections of Ivan Sayers and Claus Jahnke. For people who love fashion but have missed the presentation, a video is available on the Beaty Biodiversity Museum’s channel on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsxjGXBqdDUO2t1zfwcR8sg

If you like Ivan’s talk, he will be hosting the final two INVOKING VENUS talks:

• FAUNA IN FASHION, the Exploitation of Animals for Beauty
  Saturday, April 13, 2013, 2:00 p.m.
• HATCHED, MATCHED AND DISPATCHED, the Clothing Rituals of Birth, Marriage and Death
  Saturday, May 4, 2013, 2:00 p.m.

For more information on INVOKING VENUS, Feathers and Fashion, click here.

Location: All over the place Everybody’s favourite trees are blooming pink all over the city but this black and white image caught my eye today. We’re so used to seeing photos of the bright pink blossoms but it’s really kind of awesome to see something so familiar in a slightly different way. Thanks, Kissarissa!

Also, I thought I’d have a little fun with V.I.A.’s very first app, Eyes On The World, which you can download for free right HERE.

I hope you don’t mind the edit, Kissarissa.

It’s that point in your consciousness where you can feel at one with nature, escaping the trappings of the day-to-day to an almost dream-like place where nothing else seems to exist besides you and your natural surroundings. It is our opinion here at VIA that Vancouver holds a unique place in the civilized world in that reaching this state often requires no more effort than simply pulling off to the side of the road, pocketing your keys and taking a few steps into the forest