Free Nights at the Glenbow Museum

The Glenbow Museum has opened its doors for all to enjoy, on the first Thursday of every month of 2016 admission is free with extended hours from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Glenbow’s current artist in residence is Canada’s own fashion designer, Paul Hardy. He used a fashion forward approach to tell his story while incorporating historic elements. The Glenbow is known for honoring our rich history while also remaining innovative | Photo by Melanie Walsh

The event has been quite successful with this February’s showing bringing in 3,248 people. Amongst attendance was a troop of Brownies and 20 Pacific Assistance Dogs in training, many couples out on date night, groups of friends and Calgarians looking for some free fun in these rough economic times.

With three floors of avant garde, contemporary and historical art there is plenty for anyone to feast their eyes upon and interpret.

Gaining the most traction this past Thursday was the feature exhibition, Kaleidoscopic Animalia, designed and curated by artist in residence, Canada’s own fashion designer, Paul Hardy. Exploring human’s relationship with animals Hardy creatively uses fashion scenes to show not only the wearable resource of animals, but how they have become part of human culture.

I was transported back to my childhood when I came across the “wool” exhibit. For years humans have been relying on wool to dress us and keep us warm. This was a very playful scene with a wolf adorning a dress made up of the children’s puppet show star Lamb Chop. I instantly remembered my sister and I watching the television show as children and learning the lessons of sharing and caring from the lamblike puppet. What Hardy is trying to say through this piece is that human relationships with animals goes beyond means of survival, besides clothing and food we also use animals to model toys after and have as symbols for many traditions. The exhibit is meant for viewers to think more critically on this relationship in terms of consumption, conservation as well as innovation. Basically Hardy is giving us a more artistic way of reducing, reusing and recycling.

With so many people it was almost difficult to fully take in the captivating exhibits. Traffic seemed to move at a steady flow and temperatures were in the higher side with spectators weaving their way through the immersive sets. The historical galleries kept patrons busy as they learned more about the history of Calgary and the world with displays of Mavericks, Blackfoot, Hindu, Buddhists and warriors.

Despite the crowds, the free night was able to reinstate to the masses that an evening out at the museum and paying regular admission to enjoy the galleries more privately is totally worth it. Why wait till March to go? The Museum is open from Monday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5:30p.m. Adult admission is $16 and with a student ID $11.