Vancouver Art Galleries, Museums, Supplies & More

Best art galleries Vancouver museums supplies classes

Over the next few minutes we will be breaking down everything we know about art in Vancouver in full detail and our first section will fully cover the best art galleries and museums near you.

After that we will get into a variety of other topics like art supply stores, events, festivals, dealers, appraisers, walking tours, local sculptures and statues, art classes, studios for rent, and the top frame shops in your area.

You can jump straight to any section that interests you most by using the table of contents on the left and we are also including a Vancouver art map with all of the spots we mention throughout the post pinned on it.

More about art museums and galleries around Canada is available at that link if interested.

Best Art Galleries & Museums In Vancouver

If you want to visit the best art galleries and museums in Vancouver you can go to:

The Museum of Vancouver is open from 10am to 5pm early in the week while closing at 8pm Thursday through Saturday and is the city’s oldest museum and Canada’s largest civic museum. It was founded in 1894 and houses extensive collections of historical art including the First Nations which was collected by Mary Lipsett and is often said to be the best in Canada.

The Vancouver Art Gallery’s permanent collection contains over 12,000 works including some by members of the Group of Seven, Michael Snow, Gathie Falk, and Joyce Wieland. They also have the most Emily Carr works with the painting Totem Poles, Kitseukla by Carr along with 1,000 contemporary artworks for rent or purchase.

The Rennie Museum has a major exhibition of works by Barkley L. Hendricks and Lorna Simpson that span a combined 50 years and are the first major presentation of either artist in Canada. On Saturdays and select weekday evenings admission is free but available by appointment only.

The Contemporary Art Gallery is always open to the public for free from noon to 6pm except for Monday when they are closed and Thursday when they are only open from 7pm to 9pm. Youth programs, talks, and workshops for schools and families are among the learning and public program activities they provide plus they host social events, an annual gala, and a large art auction in your area.

The Vancouver Fine Art Gallery is open from 10am to 6pm except on Sunday when their hours are noon to 4pm and it houses one of the city’s largest private collections of art containing works by Pablo Picasso, Raffaello Sanzio, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Francisco Goya, Rembrandt, and others. In addition they provide a wide range of services like art consulting, commission work, acquisition, appraisals, and art rentals.

Consulting, collection building, art rentals, appraisals, framing, installation, and worldwide shipping are some of the services provided at Ian Tan Gallery who you can check out from 11am to 5pm Tuesday through Saturday.

Center A houses a reading room with one of the best collections of Asian art books in the country covering the Finlayson Collection of Rare Asian Art Books and a number of exhibitions and public programs which include art talks and seminars. They also offer mentoring to emerging artists and art professionals while keeping regular hours of noon to 6pm Wednesday through Saturday.

Materials & Supplies Near You

There are quite a few stores in this city to buy art supplies and materials like:

Rath Art Supplies sells a diverse selection of fine art materials including handcrafted paintings by Old Holland, Michael Harding, Kama Pigments, Rublev, and Williamsburg. They also create custom canvases and wood panels in addition to providing local painting and stretching services.

Kroma Artist Acrylics sells great handcrafted acrylic paints in small batches that are only available from their workshops plus they offer custom work and consultation on pigments and paint technology to all those who need it.

Deserres Opus Art Supplies and Michaels both offer framing services in your area.

Shows & Events

We bet you would really enjoy these local art shows and events:

The South Granville Artwalk takes place every June on South Granville Street and includes artist talks and ten different art exhibitions.

Art Vancouver is the biggest contemporary art fair in Western Canada and draws more than 10,000 art enthusiasts to the Vancouver Convention Centre every September.

Vines Art Festival is a free public event with more than 90 performances, over 200 artists, and more than 5,000 participants that is held in parks across the city each August like David Lam Park, CRAB Park, Strathcona, Creekside Park, Hadden Park, and Trout Lake Park.

In West Vancouver on the water front on Argyle Avenue the Harmony Arts Festival goes down in July which showcases dance, food, and visual arts and attracts over 100,000 people each year.

The Vancouver Mural Festival is a three-week summer festival that takes place in nine different neighborhoods near you where you can expect to find live mural painting, live performances, a guided mural tour, an art show, and other activities.

Art Dealers & Appraisers

When you want to add a new piece to your collection or learn the real value of something these art dealers and appraisers near you can help:

Art Works represents more than 150 artists working in different media and styles plus they sell customized framing, framed mirrors, and custom work alongside original artwork.

A vast array of modern and historical art is available to rent or purchase in the Petley Jones Gallery who also offers a variety of services like art restoring, custom framing and fine art evaluations.

Uno Langmann Limited specializes in European and American art providing a wide range of services related to sales, evaluations, purchases or consignments, preservation and rehabilitation and they are also happy to represent you at public auctions.

Grunt Gallery, Vancouver Fine Art Gallery, and Ian Tan Gallery from the best local museums list above also sell art.

Walking Tours

If you are reading this on a sunny day why not go on an art walking tour in your area:

Every month throughout the year the Downtown Vancouver First Friday Artwalk takes place and if you attend you will see late-night exhibitions by local artists, live music, and all kinds of cool stuff.

The only other art walks near you that we know about would be the South Granville Artwalk and the Mural Festival that we mentioned in the events section, however they only take place for a few weeks each summer.

Sculptures & Statues

Framing art supply stores Vancouver lessons near you studios

On your walk you may also want to check out some of these unique sculptures and statues:

  • A-maze-ing Laughter at 1800 Morton Ave
  • Girl in a Wetsuit at 2743 Stanley Park Dr
  • Harry Jerome Statue at 1351-1475 Stanley Park Dr
  • Gassy Jack Statue at 1 Water St
  • Digital Orca at 1055 Canada Pl
  • Golden Tree at 2656 Canada Line Bikeway

A-maze-ing Laughter was installed in Morton Park and is a bronze sculpture by Yue Minjun.

Girl in a Wetsuit is a lifesize bronze sculpture made by Elek Imredy found on a rock on the northern side of Stanley Park that dates back to 1972.

In 1986 Jack Harman’s Harry Jerome Statue was created and set up at Stanley Park.

The bronze Gassy Jack Statue stands near Crab Park on the portside of Maple Tree Square in Gastown and it was carved in 1970 by artist Vern Simpson.

Douglas Coupland created Digital Orca that was built next door to the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Golden Tree was designed by Douglas Coupland and unveiled in 2016 at the Canada Line Station over the front entrance to Intracorp’s MC2.

Vancouver Art Classes

We are all at different levels and sometimes a lesson or two can give us the boost that we need. Some of the best Vancouver art schools and classes can be found at:

You can study at the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts if you want to better your skills in production, game art and design, animation of characters, professional photography, acting for movies and television, or web development. You must be at least 19 years old or a high-school graduate to sign up for their full-time graduate programs.

Academy of Modern Art provides art lessons in your area for all ages. They have special teen services to educate and train them for post-secondary education plus their Canadian Youth Visual Art Contest is open to anyone between 5 years old and 23 years old with up to $200 prizes and scholarships.

The Luminous Elephant gives local art classes for all ages and levels of competence while offering private or community courses, classes on weekends and at night, summer camps for children aged 6-12, and they can host private parties to boot.

The Brush & Wand Studio is an excellent place to take art lessons as they offer free trial courses that do not require registration and include community or private classes.

Intuitive Art Beat gives children and adults art lessons in community or private classes and they also offer week-end courses and special classes for women only.

Studios For Rent Near You

These local art studios might have space for rent:

The City of Vancouver provides an Artist Studio Award Program that offers free studios through the triennial jury process.

Framing

A frame can take a normal looking picture a long way, and some of the best places for picture and art framing in Vancouver are:

Framagraphic Custom Picture Framing offers hundreds of various styles of framing frameworks and several glass types along with fine art prints, supplies and art installations are also available.

More than 1,800 examples can be purchased at Kent Picture Framing where the samples can be taken and tested.

Kimprints provides a broad variety of framing services from canvas to stretching.

Other places we have listed in other sections that also provide framing services near you include Ian Tan Gallery, Deserres Opus Art Supplies, Michaels, Art Works, and Petley Jones Gallery.

Some reading this may want to compare the scene here to what you can find in other towns like:

Have Fun Enjoying The Vancouver Art Scene

We hope we did an OK job of covering the full art scene near you. We listed the best galleries, museums, events, shows, supply stores, dealers, appraisers, walking tours, sculptures, classes, studios, and framers in your area.

If you made it all the way to the end then you probably love art as much as us. You can let us know about any of your own tips and tricks in the comments at the end of the post, or please mention if we got something incorrect or posted dated info.

Have fun going to the galleries, museums, buying supplies or doing anything that has to do with art in Vancouver!

Related Posts:

Author Avatar

This post and all of the posts on our site are edited by Dan Soloman who has been a huge fan of art since he was a little kid. His mother was a good local artist, and she taught him the trade from a very early age. He studied art and its history in both high school and college, has worked at multiple galleries, and recently has begun creating and editing online content for this site and some other online media platforms.

FacebookPinterest

Leave a Comment