Discover the Royal BC Museum, Victoria

Dating all the way back to 1886, the Royal BC Museum is the destination for history aficionados keen to learn more about British Columbia. The institution is dedicated to collecting artifacts, documents and specimens of natural and human history, including the world’s largest collection of Emily Carr materials (paintings, sketches and letters). Items from the career-spanning trove are featured in the current exhibition devoted to the beloved Canadian modernist painter and writer, “Emily Carr: Fresh Seeing – French Modernism and the West Coast” (until January 24, 2021). Meet the curator: Tzu-I Chung, Curator of History. “B.C. has long been the gateway between North America and Asia-Pacific,” says Chung, who highlights the Royal BC Museum’s educational YouTube videos touring other museums that illuminate the province’s unique past. It’s a creative exchange, says Chung, that highlights the sense of community among the museums on the West Coast. Chung suggests, for example, that those interested in the history of the B.C. Sikh community, pay a virtual visit to the Sikh Heritage Museum, a National Historic Site in Abbotsford.

Shop and support the Royal BC Museum: Gift an adult membership, $62.95 ( sales.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Selection.aspx?item=336). Victoria locals can purchase museum gift cards in person.

GIFT PICK

This beautiful bowl showcases the contemporary Indigenous design of Coast Salish//Kwakwaka’wakw artist Maynard Johnny Jr. Primarily self-taught, he was a recipient of the Fulmer Award in First Nations Art in 2019. INDIGENOUS NORTHWEST HUMMINGBIRD MEDIUM BOWL, $20, AT SHOP.ROYALBCMUSEUM.BC.CA