I’m a lover of the arts, and as such, spending the day touring open galleries or visiting museums is one of my favourite affairs.
And last week, thanks to Pivot, I received a wildly exciting invite to go behind the walls of the Glenbow Museum and tour the archives with museum curators.
Did you know that the Glenbow, for the most part, stores all of their artifacts in their own building scattered over several hidden floors?
Doesn’t seem like a big deal until I tell you that on one floor alone, the shelves are home to 100,000+ artifacts owned by the gallery.
In total, amongst all the secret storage space, close to 1 million pieces can be found in their collection!
My first tour through artifacts was lead by Aimee, to whom I asked: “Do you have 1 piece you wish you could take home?“. But with so many to choose from, she told us that depending on the day her coveted item changes.
Shelves carefully arranged and catalogued had me feeling like I was shopping through a very un-affordable garage sale.
Then, with a quick flip of our curators… We joined up with Melanie and headed into the art stacks!
Hanging and stacked, the collection seemed to go on for miles.
And Melanie had some really amazing and interesting stories for us about the largest collection in the world of works by Carl Rungius, that the Glenbow owns!
I could have listened to her for hours and I had so many questions!
Then myself and one of the girls in the group came up with an amazing idea for an exhibit!
The secrets & stories behind the art!
Where did it come from and how did you aquire it?
Better yet, were there any surprising finds when pieces were de-framed? Love notes, hidden messages… We were hungry for their stories!
All these pieces had a past, and we wanted to know what it was!
Then as the tour wrapped we returned to the gallery for wine and canapés; an amazing close to a perfectly unique and special evening!
Now people always wonder how they can get invited to some of the amazing and exclusive events I do and sometimes the answer is as simple as ‘becoming a member’.
This very exclusive evening was part of Pivot’s member program!
4 private events per year, an all inclusive pass for 2 to the Glenbow and a museum reciprocal agreement which includes admission to 100’s of other galleries across North America.
So if you love art & culture and you’re looking for something special; check out Pivot.
Thanks P for the amazing evening, it has been one if the most enriching events I’ve been to in the past few years!
Mr. Fab ehind the scenes
