An Artistic event.

Today I had an adventure. I took the train into the city in search of the The Museum of Contemporary Art  (here) which is hosting a lovely Andy Warhol exhibit.  How wonderful I thought.  I have to see this.  And I wasn't disappointed. 
The Warhol paintings,  portraits of professional athletes, are on loan from a private collector and given pride of place in this little jewel of a gallery.  It was fascinating to read about his technique - first photographing his subject, then silkscreening the photo onto canvas, and then painting over the silk screened portrait.

The gallery itself is adjacent to city hall, and across the street from a delightful little coffee bar where I enjoyed a delicious Latte and muffin and kitty corner across from Olympic plaza and the outdoor skating rink. 

Then it was time for a stroll down Steven Avenue with a stop first to say hello to  five strong women, Emily Murphy, Louise Mckinney, Irene Parlby, Henrietta Muir Edwards and  and  Nelly McLung who is holding up her paper proclaiming "Women are Persons" These larger than life bronze sculptures celebrate the "famous Five - the five feisty women who blazed a trail for women's rights in Canada and got us the vote.  They stand and sit in a circle, saluting Nellie McClung with their tea cups. She is holding up her proclamation for all to see.

After that, the next stop could only be the Art Gallery of Calgary to walk through their very powerful and disturbing current exhibit (here) " Off the Beaten Path, violence, women and Art".   This amazing multimedia exhibit doesn't pull any punches. In film, painting, drawing, photographs, and fibre art, the story is told over and over of what women suffer, mostly in silence, often justified as part of the culture they are born into.  The Gallery brochure says "off the beaten Path witnesses art as a vehicle for social change".  Wouldn't that be nice!  It saddens and angers me that women  are treated so badly, often by men they love and trust.  What would the Famous Five think I wonder, that we have come so far but still battle stereotypes and this terrible violence against females.