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Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

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funkipickle
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Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (The)

  • May 26, 2008
  • Rated 4 of 5 by tvordj from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (The)

The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is soon to celebrate their 100th year. It began life as the Nova Scotia Museum of Fine Arts and has has many homes, including a powder magazine in the Halifax Citadel. It moved into it's current building, a fine old Victorian heap, in 1988 and 10 years later, the AGNS took over two floors of a neighbouring building as well. The two are connected underground by another exhibition space. The main building is the 1865 Dominion Building at what used to be called "Cheapside" but is now flanked by Hollis Street and Bedford Row. It is only steps from the ferry terminal and waterfront where there is a pay and display parking lot.

The Art Gallery has permanent exhibitions that celebrate Nova Scotian, eastern provincial, and Canadian art and has a special gallery on Maud Lewis, a folk artist who painted bright coloured works on anything she could find. In recent years, the gallery has hosted some amazing travelling exhibitions including Impressionist works, Egyptian art and mummies, a Rodin perspective, and a study of Marilyn Monroe. At entry fees of $12.00 for adults (discounted for Seniors and children, with family rates as well), it's a little on the pricey side for Halifax but it's well worth a visit. The gallery shop is comprehensive and the cafe is one of the nicest and most elegant places to have lunch downtown yet with reasonable prices.

The gallery holds art classes and workshops, especially for kids but also for adults. They sometimes have lunchtime events and often have films and tours. Check the website for events each month.

Opening hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and open Thursday evenings until 9 p.m. Daily tours at 2:30 p.m. and on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. as well. The gallery is fully wheelchair accessible with ramps and lifts.

From journal Halifax, My Home

Editor Pick

The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

  • November 13, 2006
  • Rated 4 of 5 by grannola from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

We went to check out the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Family Sunday Halloween festivities. The AGNS had a display on ancient Egypt this year, so the Halloween activities focused on Egyptian symbols. Immediately inside the front door, there is a giant spider to help decorate, with bits of scraps to tie on.

The prices are: Family Rate (2 adults +3 youths) $25, adults $12, senior (60+) $10, students $5, youth (6-17)$3, children 5 and under - free, but they charge an extra $3 for special exhibits (like the Egyptian Stuff). We had a coupon for buy-one-get-one-free so our total cost was $21.

To get to the Egypt display, you take the elevator to the basement and go underground to a second building. The elevators are all well marked with pictures showing which floor to go to.

The Egyptian Theme stuff had a tour guide, which my kids don't enjoy (and they tend to annoy other patrons), so we skipped that, but Mom went on it. I took the kids to see the mummies, and the 8-year-old enjoyed trying the scavenger hunt in the tour guide. It was a great way to learn about mummies and ancient Egypt, without bothering others.

We also looked some of the other displays while we were there, but briefly. We looked at several paintings by Canadian artists. The kids favourite was the model of the large sculpture that is outside in the courtyard.

The gallery does a good job of making things a bit more interesting for the kids by providing spots where they can sit and do related activities for a few minutes. In the featured exhibit section, there is a room with a table filled with puzzles, books, etc., related to the exhibit. So, in this case there was a hieroglyphic puzzle, and several books on Egypt and mummies. It was a nice quiet place where the kids could do something for a few minutes. In the bottom of the gallery there is a room where kids could make plasticine pictures or magnetic poetry.

There were lots of fun things for the kids, including making Egyptian amulets, necklaces, rings out of standard craft stuff. There was lots of room for all the kids, and a few adult helpers. The kids were free to do whatever they wanted, but there were ideas presented.

There was a preschool craft room where the kids could make plaster spiders, skulls, or pumpkins, and paint them. They also had some goop to play with. It was a great room for the baby because it had some blocks, a chalk board, and a nice shelf filled with books to look at. It was someplace he could walk around for a few minutes.

We really enjoyed the art gallery, and will go there again on a family Sunday. They had extra stuff going on for Halloween, but the AGNS is always a family friendly place.

From journal Fall in Dartmouth with the Kids

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

  • December 17, 2001
  • Rated 2 of 5 by funkipickle from Ystradgynlais, United Kingdom
The Art gallery has around 5000 pieces of Canadian and provincial art. There are some changing exhibits as well, when I visited there was a very bizarre collection of German prints (although I am no major art critic!) On the first floor near the recption there is a permanent exhibit on the painted house of Maud Lewis, a local folk artist. Maud's unusual painted house has been preserved and some orginal pieces from it are on show for visitors. Visitors can use a CD ROM set up close to the exhibit to obtain further information on this folk art treasure.

I found the layout of the building somewhat confusing as offices for the musuem are set alongside some of the exhibits. I wandered into one by mistake, which was a tad embarrassing. There is a small shop in the museum, where there some unusual local craft to buy (although it can be quite expensive).

From journal Winter in Halifax, Nova Scotia

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