Ancient Artworks

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August 12th 2011

Published: May 20th 2012

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Roosta

Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge

The suspension bridge over Lynn Canyon, a baby version of the Capilano Bridge

With Siggraph over, today is my day to explore the area around Vancouver.

I need to squeeze it all in today, because my Canada visit permit (see Prepare for the X-Ray) expires tomorrow.

As noted yesterday, Vancouver Harbor sits in front of a mountain range, the North Shore Mountains.

All of it at this point is protected by parks.

I first saw one of them.

Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge

Every visitor to Vancouver is bombarded with advertisements for the Capilano Suspension Bridge, a private attraction of a wooden slat suspension bridge over a deep narrow canyon.

It was built in 1889, so they call themselves “Vancouver’s first thrill ride”.

Only visitors who do deep research (or know a native) find out that there is a similar bridge in another part of the mountains that they can see for free, Lynn Canyon.

Guess which one I saw?

It is located on a poorly marked side road in North Vancouver, so finding it proved to be a challenge.

The bridge itself is pretty much as advertised: a narrow walkway suspended from two large metal cables.

It goes over a narrow and deep ravine.

Lynn Canyon Entrance

The entrance to Lynn Canyon Park. These trees are only a century old

The ravine is not as deep or wide as Capilano.

One waterfall is visible upstream.

Another is visible just downstream for those brave enough to look over the side.

For many people, just being on the bridge is thrill enough.

Many people turn around after the bridge, which is a real pity.

The rest of the park has a number of sights worth seeking out.

I chose the hiking trail along the canyon, which starts on the far side of the bridge.

It gives many views of big rocks and tall pine trees, which I was used to by this point in the trip.

The hike is still beautiful.

The area was heavily logged when Vancouver was first settled, so all the trees are second growth.

This was depressingly obvious despite how quickly the forest grew back, since I had been in the Olympics a week earlier.

Even more depressing, the trail passed a number of old stumps from the previous forest, which showed just how big the trees once were.

The trail finally reached the end of the canyon, where it dropped

Lynn Canyon

The view from the middle of the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge

to stream level and crossed a bridge, the conventional kind.

This bridge showed a number of glacial potholes in the creek.

It also gave a close up view of the water, which is stunningly pure.

Deeper areas reflected blue-green (see The Great Mountain), while shallower ones were clear.

The bridge also gave a nice view of yet another waterfall directly downstream.

After the bridge, the trail needs to climb the canyon wall back to the initial suspension bridge.

It does so on an unbelievably long set of stairs.

Switchback went after switchback, seemingly forever.

Thankfully, it did eventually end.

Along the way, it gave some pretty views of the canyon.

Museum of Anthropology

Having drunk in Vancouver’s natural beauty, I wanted art and history.

The place for both is the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.

Getting there required a long drive, part of which has a nice view of the harbor.

The museum is famous.

It deserves to be, because it contains the most extensive collection of Pacific Northwest Native American (what Canadians call “First Nation”) artifacts in the world.

Lynn Canyon Falls

Lynn Canyon Falls, shot from the suspension bridge

The first room is a high ceiling hall containing wood carvings of all kinds.

Totem poles in various conditions get prominent placement, along with incredibly carved chests, wooden doorways, and ceremonial bowls.

These last items were used for feasts.

Most are very old, but a few modern examples also appear.

The level of artistry is incredible.

Every item features intricately carved features, many painted.

The design of most items is highly symbolic, honoring clan history.

Several items have panels where members of the tribes involved explain the symbolism.

The presence of the totem poles is a little controversial.

In 1957, the British Columbia government did a survey of the First Nation communities along the coast.

They discovered that the elaborate totem poles were in a state of serious decay.

Exposure to salty air was taking a toll, and most tribe members no longer had the carving skills to maintain them.

The government persuaded the tribes, not wholly voluntarily, to preserve the totem poles by selling or donating them to museums.

The museum plaques now mention this fact.

One side of this room

Lynn Canyon stump

One of many stumps of the original old growth trees logged over a century ago, surrounded by the new growth that replaced it.

has a dugout canoe made from a single Douglas fir log.

The canoe is fairly modern.

Haida member Bill Reid (more on him later) made it in 1984, and thoroughly documented the process so the skill would not be lost.

Of the Canadian First Nations, the Haida are considered the best artists by many.

They live on a series of islands off the British Columbia coast, which they call Haida Gwaii (and other Canadians once called Queen Charlotte).

The next room of the museum honored their work.

It contained a vast array of art and crafts, from baskets to metalwork.

All of them are covered in traditional motifs of birds and fish.

After this room was a series of rooms holding art from groups all over the world.

It covered everything possible: textiles, masks, beadwork, statues, ceramics, and some prints.

Much was from First Nations, but practically every other culture on earth had something too.

The variety is overwhelming.

Everything has captions explaining who made it, where they live, and what they traditionally used it for.

A few items were covered up.

The items are ceremonial props

Lynn Canyon

Lynn Canyon from stream level at the lower bridge

that tribe members traditionally prohibit outsiders from seeing (contrast this with the Quinault: (see Do you Like Green Eggs and Ham, SAM I Am?).

The final room in the museum holds what is likely the most famous wood sculpture in Canada, The Raven And The First Men.

It is six feet high and at least eighteen feet around.

It was carved by Haida member Bill Reid, who is so famous locally that an entire museum in Vancouver is dedicated to his work (which I did not have time see, unfortunately).

The sculpture illustrates the Haida creation myth.

Humans first arrived on the islands occupied by the Haida in a huge clam shell.

They were afraid of this new land, and refused to leave the shell.

Raven, a spirit animal famous for his trickery, landed on the shell and convinced the humans to settle the land.

The sculpture shows this moment, human figures struggling out of a large shell with a huge bird on top.

Pictures do not do this work justice, due to hiding the scale and detail.

After the museum, I had a nasty drive out of Vancouver.

One reason was the Massey Tunnel.

The Fraser

Twin Falls

Twin Falls in Lynn Canyon, seen from the lower bridge

River, the largest in British Columbia, is an important shipping channel.

It does not reach the Pacific at Vancouver Harbor, but rather a dozen miles south.

The Massey Tunnel is where the highway goes under the river.

The tunnel is a notorious traffic choke point that turns into parking lot anywhere near rush hour.

Soon after the tunnel, I reached a sign listing the even larger choke point ahead, the crossing to the United States.

Vancouver has three nearby.

They are popular enough that the British Columbia government set up live webcams, which are used to estimate the wait.

Thanks to through processing by US Customs, the wait tends to be long.

I had to exit through the same one I entered, Peace Arch Park, in order to deal with the visit permit in my passport.

The sign said the wait would be nearly an hour.

Before reaching it, I pulled off the highway at a strip mall.

Just as a week ago, I went through my car and meticulously put things in order.

Thankfully, the sort was shorter this time since I had less stuff.

I

Back Home!

Boundary Marker at the Peace Arch border crossing

carefully separated out what I had bought in Vancouver from what I brought in.

I made sure to locate all receipts to match.

I threw out all trash.

Peace Arch Park

At the crossing, dealing with the permit was easy enough.

I had to remember to go to the Canadian entrance building, though, since there is no way back after passing it.

The backup started a ways back.

The British Columbia government has instituted a system called pulsing where they stop people before the border, and then let people over in groups every twenty minutes.

The goal is less air pollution, by allowing people to turn off their engines between moves.

I finally reached the Canadian station, where one signature later I was on my way.

The actual Peace Arch Park that gives the crossing its name sits in the highway meridian between the two entrance stations.

The centerpiece is a marble arch on the border flying the flags of both nations.

The inscription reads “Brethren Dwelling Together In Unity”.

On either side of the lawn surrounding the arch are flower gardens planted to look

Peach Arch Park

The United States Section of Peace Arch Park. Note the signs directly behind it, the border crossing station parking lot.

like flags, American south and Canadian north.

Needless to say, people have a lot of time to look at this park, and some get out of their cars for pictures.

After a wait that seemed like forever, I finally reached American customs.

It looked just like a huge highway toll booth.

Given the scrutiny I got from the Canadians a week earlier, I was pretty afraid of what my reception would be.

American border agents have become much more through since events a decade ago, and travel guides are filled with horror stories.

Anything that looks remotely suspicious needs an explanation and it needs to check out.

I figured being four thousand miles from home would be reason enough.

I got a pleasant surprise.

The border agent verified my passport, asked how much stuff I picked up, asked what I did in Canada for the week, and I was through.

SAM Remix

I arrived in Seattle soon after sunset tonight.

While visiting the Seattle Art Museum last week, I discovered they run periodic parties called SAM Remix.

One of them is tonight.

They

SAM Remix

The scene at SAM Remix

held it at Olympic Sculpture Park on the waterfront.

Parking, as always in Seattle, was a pain.

Unfortunately, so was part of the party.

The event does not have nearly enough food and drink stations for everyone who attends, so the lines were long and painful.

I tried to not let this obscure the good parts, which were many.

First I took something called the My Favorite Things Tour.

An art professional gives a highly personal tour of several sculptures (which vary by tour) explaining what each means to them.

Our guide, Kathy Lindenmayer, curates the performing arts part of the famous Seattle Bumbershoot Festival.

She pointed out work that pushed the boundaries of sculpture in some way, much as Bumbleshoot tries to do.

Some of the work was so minimalist I would not have recognized it as a sculpture except for the label.

Nicholas Nyland layered rope in the grass to create Flemish Lines, which is supposed to reference ocean waves.

Roy McMakin created Love & Loss, a huge neon ampersand sign surrounded by benches.

It mostly reminded me of the giant Q over London Quay in Vancouver

Collaborative Artwork

Part of the collage wall at SAM Remix

(see The Most Scenic Lunch in Vancouver).

Teresita Fernandez created Seattle Cloud Cover, a walkway of glass with engraved photos.

The party also had a series of stations for people to make artwork.

One had scraps of paper for people to draw on, which they then stuck on a concrete wall as part of a huge collage.

On another section of that same wall, staff had chalked out a huge paint by numbers mural for people to color in.

Not everyone stayed within the lines. 😊

Another area had supplies for people to make buttons and posters.

The final part was a series of music performances.

One stage held bands ranging from jazz to world music.

I spent much more time at a dance floor two DJs, DJ Skiddle and Sammy LaForge, had set up underneath the sculpture Eagle by Alexander Calder.

Their music was mostly house remixes of Top-40 radio songs.

The crowd ate it up despite (or likely because of) the heavy cheese factor (more Foster the People and Katy Perry, yah!)

I enjoyed it due to the high energy level and variety of music