The Esplanade Museum and Esplanade Archives are proud to present Our Chinese Heritage in the Heritage Gallery, three exhibits which honor Chinese Canadian contributions to the development of Western Canada. The exhibits will be open during regular operating hours from January 29 to April 22, 2012. An opening reception will be held on Sunday, January 29 beginning at 2:00 PM and everyone is welcome.

The three exhibits include “Upstairs at Wah Lee’s” which is a collection of historic photographs from the C.S.Wing Studio in Quesnel, British Columbia. Mr. Wing was the first professional photographer in that community. The exhibit illustrates his interaction with other residents of the town as well as chronicling its early days. Another exhibit is “Chop Suey on the Prairies” which was produced by the Royal Alberta Museum and is a salute to the small town Chinese Restaurant; an icon in many communities across the Canadian Plains. The third exhibit is “A Century of Chinese Restaurants in Medicine Hat” and features photographs from the Esplanade Archives collection which document the long standing presence, and contributions, of these establishments in our community.

We are entering “The Year of the Dragon” in the traditional Chinese calendar and the Esplanade Museum along with the Esplanade Archives are celebrating our Chinese heritage. In addition to the three exhibits, Mr. Siew Mak will be demonstrating traditional Chinese brush painting during the reception.

The Esplanade Museum and Archives are proud to present Antique Appraisal day at the Esplanade this Saturday from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Two professional appraisers will be on hand to evaluate antiques and artwork.

“This is an ‘Antique Roadshow’-type event, just without the television cameras,” says Donny White, Curator of Cultural History at the Esplanade, referring to the popular CBC television series Canadian Antiques Roadshow and its counterparts in Britain and the United States.

Two types of appraisals will be offered on Saturday:

• Antiques/Collectibles – appraised by Mr. Sheldon Smithens from the Canadian Antiques Roadshow television series
• Art – appraised by Mr. Douglas N. Levis from Levis Fine Art Auctions in Calgary, AB

Tickets are $10 for EACH ITEM you wish to have evaluated and must be purchased in advance. Patrons are limited to having two items appraised per category.

THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »

Terra Rogowski wrote in with:

The Esplanade Museum opened a new exhibition yesterday that features a century of classic toys from 1880 to 1980.

Playful Revelations uncovers the stories behind a century of classic toys, like Teddy Bears, Meccano®, and Mr. Potato Head, as well as some toys that are unique to Medicine Hat. The accompanying text helps visitors explore what these toys say about the social conditions during which they were made, and how they contributed to the social development of our society.

“Toys are a child’s ‘tools of the trade’ in learning how the world works, so we wanted to pay homage to their contribution in shaping our society into what you see today,” says Tim McShane, Curatorial Assistant with the Esplanade Museum.

Most of the toys featured in the exhibition are selected from the Esplanade Museum’s collection of more than 25,000 artefacts. Curatorial Assistant Tim McShane spent the past two years selecting and researching the toys for the exhibition. This included interviewing artefact donors and toy collectors, and even studying a bit of sociology to understand the toys’ impact. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »