Last night, Miranda, Tammy and I went to an art show. This is not our usual type of activity to be sure. Our friend Krisztina was going to be exhibiting her photography and initially we bought two tickets and then Miranda wanted to go too. Ian couldn’t go: it was 18+ (they were serving alcohol at the event).
We didn’t know what to expect. It was at Contemporary Calgary, which used to be the science centre before it moved to Telus Spark. There were a large number of artists presenting, so I figured it would be a very large venue to wander around in. We got dressed up… somewhat. Tammy was dressed the nicest of us with her black sequined top and jacket.
We drove down, timing it to arrive about five minutes after door opening. Our first hint that our expectations were off was the parking. Contemporary Calgary has a fairly large parking lot, but we were lucky to find a space. Then there was a line to pay for parking. Then there was a line to get in. Then a line for the coat check… And then we got in about quarter past seven.
It was crowded. The artist exhibits were jammed into a roughly circular room, making a maze of brightly-lit, colorful walls. It was difficult to stand and look at any artist’s work, because stopping meant you made a traffic jam. The music was loud without being oppressive, but being jammed in with so many people seemed… not smart.
We got a chance to say hi to Krisztina, who seemed to be really enjoying it. She said that the venue was crowded as soon as the doors opened. There were a few things that caught our eye, but not a lot. It was more an experience just to be there and see all of the different artist’s works. We did pick up a blue glass paperweight from Croil Glass. Just another example of Biickert women acquiring glass baubles…
Eventually Tammy suggested we go to the foyer to get out of the crowd for a bit. That was fine, until we realized that they were only letting people in when people left. They had hit their fire code limit, I guess. So there was a very long line to re-enter. So Tammy and I let Miranda know that we were outside and we waiter there, peoplewatching, until she came out.
At this point, it wasn’t even 8:30 yet. We considered stopping for a coffee on the way home, but we ended up just going home, and our big night out was over before 9 o’clock on Saturday. Sigh.
