Royal BC Museum

Yesterday Skip and I ventured downtown to the Inner Harbour area to visit the Royal British Columbia Museum. The general admission fee included the Egypt exhibit that is here until the end of the year.

Outside is a little park with a ceremonial First Nations house and totems. There were food trucks behind it where we had a bit to eat.

Once inside, we went up to the top floor to the west coast Native art exhibits and worked our way down.

This was the view of the Inner Harbour from the top floor.

Just to the right - due north of the museum is The Empress Hotel. The square tower on the left is the Netherlands Centennial Bell Tower - a gift from BCs Dutch community to honour Canada's centennial in 1967. It is the largest carillon in Canada.

I took many photos but this post will focus on various handmade crafts by First Nations people and Egyptians.

This tapestry was woven on a Salish loom by Debra Sparrow in 2014. These ceremonial pieces are worn or stood upon during important events. This was one side.

And this is the other.

This beadwork was on a cradleboard.

 Detail on the cradleboard piece.

There were several whorls from drop spindles. The light wasn't great but this is one of the better shots.

This Chilkat robe was collected at Sitka in 1922.

There was a video showing how this 'Raven's Tail' dance apron was created by elaborate weaving/braiding of the threads. The design came to the artist, Willie White, in a dream and was finished in 2017.

 The colours of the wool and application of buttons are very typical features of Tlingit designs.

More elaborate beadwork.

Once the white men came, the First Nations people began making items to appeal to them for trade. This is an embroidered letter holder using crewel work techniques.

These buttons were woven with grasses.

Here is a heart-shaped needlecase with typical red and black wool. A finely woven needlecase is in the foreground and a small pair of knitted socks in the background.

I was very surprised to see this doily with a punto antico design that was created with linen thread and a type of knotted technique.

We then moved on to the Egypt exhibit

This small piece of finely-woven linen cloth dates from between 1500 and 110 BC.

These were other examples of woven cloth with stripes from 3rd Century BC to 3rd Century AD. This time linen and wool were used.

There were tons of other artifacts and interesting displays. It is definitely worth a visit anytime one is in the area.