I have a private wine club with my sister and a few close friends which usually meets every month in the summer. In March, we have already hosted two weekly meetings on Zoom. Usually our get togethers include everyone bringing the same varietal, from the BC winery of their choice. We then taste, take notes, and post our favourite to our Facebook group. The virtual meetings are far less structured.
This is where Okanagan Crush Pad (“OCP”) could really help my group — and yours. Invite one of their team members to your next online happy hour and turn it into a rather civilized wine tasting event!
Virtual Wine Tasting with Okanagan Crush Pad
Due to recent physical distancing, virtual gatherings over platforms like Skype, Messenger, Instagram, and Zoom have become very popular, including happy hour and friends getting together over wine. But missing is the experience of talking to a wine expert as you taste along with your friends or work colleagues.
While OCP has previously posted video of guided tastings, the makers of Haywire, Narrative and Free Form are now going a step further. Just follow these four steps:
Can’t get together in person? Round up the people you are missing most;
Each person buys a wine tasting pack (2 full bottles and 1 half bottle);
Set a date and time for your online tasting with your friends;
Coordinate the details with OCP Wine brand ambassador Rawan* by emailing her at [email protected]
*An OCP team member will be part of any gathering where four or more wine tasting packs are sold (12 bottles total – 8 full bottles and 4 half bottles). There is no maximum size, but the ideal gathering would be no larger than 12 different logins.
Wine Tasting Packs from OCP
Pack 1 ($70.70) 1 x 375ml Haywire Baby Bub 2018 1 x 750 ml Free Form Cabernet Franc 2017 1 x 750 ml Narrative Viognier 2018 Order here »
Pack 2 ($87.30) 1 x 375ml Narrative Baby XC Method 2019 1 x 750 ml Free Form Vin Gris 2018 1 x 750 ml Haywire Pinot Noir 2018 Order here »
Crack open a baby sparkling wine while you all sign-on, and toast each other with a cheers! A team member from the winery will join you for the tasting. They will tell you about the wines, answer any questions, and then they can leave the online party and you can carry on with your friends.
Follow Okanagan Crush Pad on Facebook for more info.
Science World’s Online Resources for at Home Activities
There is a robust collection of tools available online here. Search by grade level, preschool to grade 12, select the topic and the type of activity, be it make-and-take, an experiment, an illusion, a game or demonstration.
Each activity includes photos, instructions, and the estimated time it will take to complete. Here’s one of my favourites for creating indoor rainbows:
Example: Indoor Rainbows
Objective: Kids can experiment with white light to make their own rainbows Materials Needed: Small glass vessel (vase, cup or bowl), flashlight, mirror, water What To Do:
Place a mirror in the glass vessel, tilted slightly upward.
Fill the glass vessel with water.
Shine the white light from the flashlight through the glass at the mirror and point out the rainbow. (You may need to darken the room; rainbows should appear on the walls.)
Indoor rainbow! The online guides include questions, helpful images and figures, as well as add-ons to expand your experiments (like polarizing filters for your rainbow).
Following the lead of Canadian Tire and London Drugs, you can now get Girl Guide Cookies at IGA and Fresh St Market, who scooped up another 12,000 boxes!
Girl Guide Cookies at IGA and Fresh St Market
Beginning today, Girl Guide cookies will be available at all IGA and Fresh St. Market locations across British Columbia. All proceeds will benefit Girl Guides of Canada’s ongoing programs.
“Since 1927, Girl Guides have been going door-to-door selling cookies to support our programs,” said Diamond Isinger, provincial commissioner for BC, Girl Guides of Canada. “With physical distancing, we know this is not an option at this time and we need to get creative. We are grateful to community-minded organizations like IGA and Fresh St. Market, who have come forward to offer significant logistical support to get our cookies into the homes of British Columbians, and we couldn’t be more grateful.”
Like many organizations, Girl Guides of Canada has had to find alternative ways to meet fundraising goals essential to the organization. IGA and Fresh St Market are now working together with Girl Guides of Canada to retrieve the thousands of boxes of cookies, and in the safest way possible, make these available to customers so they can enjoy the yummy cookies while supporting Girl Guides to continue offering their in-person educational and leadership programs for girls when pandemic protocols lift.
All sales of the cookies will go directly to Girl Guides of Canada; IGA and Fresh St. Market are simply providing a safe distribution network.
I have reached out to some of my friends around the globe who are originally from the “604” area to see how they’re doing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is the seventh in the Vancouverites in Isolation Elsewhere series:
Vancouverites in Isolation Elsewhere: Robert in Bali
Name: Robert Scales (Website, Instagram) Hometown: Born in Montreal, moved to Vancouver (Kerrisdale) in my 20s. Current City: Nusa Ceningan, Bali, Indonesia
What is your city like right now?
The local government requested that all tourism related businesses stop operating on March 20th until further notice. We do not have a “lockdown” policy in place yet, however the regency has limited/restricted the movement between the islands and people are requested to stay at home, apply social distancing, to not travel between villages, wash hands, and report any illness.
We live on Nusa Ceningan, a very small island located about 30kms from the south east coast of Bali. Our primary economy is tourism. At the moment, there are very few non-local people on the Nusa islands (Nusa Ceningan, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Penida.) Most of the non-local people remaining are expats who own businesses here or stranded travellers who cannot return home due to travel restrictions etc.
Starting this week, you can tune into Vancouver Art Gallery live stream curators’ talks as a part of their new Art Connect series. Follow a virtual tour around current exhibitions and hear from guests from local and international arts communities.
Art Connects: Vancouver Art Gallery Live Stream Curators’ Talks
When: Tuesday and Fridays (starting March 31, 2020) Where: Vancouver Art Gallery’s Zoom channel Admission: Free, register online for the Zoom details. Upon registration, attendees can submit questions and chat directly with fellow attendees during the live stream.
In response to temporary closure of the exhibition spaces due to the current global health pandemic, Arts Connect online gatherings encourage dialogue and connection during this new age of physical distancing. They are free for everyone to join and the weekly conversations will be interactive in nature.
For the first talk on Tuesday, March 31 at 1:30pm, join a special preview of the exhibition, The Tin Man Was A Dreamer: Allegories, Poetics and Performances of Power, with curators Grant Arnold and Mandy Ginson. Together, the curators will walk through the exhibition and speak to the importance of bringing together recent acquisitions from Gallery’s permanent collection to make exciting exhibitions that deal with contemporary issues of our time. Register here »
On Friday, April 3 at 4:30pm, join Afro Van Connect founders Dae Shields and Buni Kor to discuss freestyling, power and exchange in music. Joined by artist Quentin VerCetty, they will share their thoughts on Black spaces, speculative futures and Afrofuturism, before presenting a live freestyle performance. The discussion will be moderated by Stephanie Bokenfohr, Adult Programs Coordinator. Register here »
Art has the power to connect individuals, communities and cultures. No matter its form, art encourages communication, broadens perspectives, enriches the mind and renews the spirit. During challenging times, art can uplift the community through enriching and culturally meaningful experiences. Stay tuned for next week’s schedule.
Extended Schedule
Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at 1:30pm: Ashlee Conery and Tarah Hogue In conjunction with the exhibition lineages and land bases, Ashlee Conery, Curatorial Coordinator—Interpretation, and Tarah Hogue, Senior Curatorial Fellow, Indigenous Art, will reveal the curatorial decisions and interpretive lenses used in the exhibition to reframe understandings of Emily Carr’s paintings and bring to light the basketry made by her friend of 33 years, Sewiṉchelwet Sophie Frank.
Friday, April 10, 2020 at 4:30pm: Howie Tsui and Diana Freundl In conjunction with the exhibition Howie Tsui: Retainers of Anarchy artist Howie Tsui and Diana Freundl, Interim Chief Curator / Associate Director, will reveal, for the first time, the artistic and curatorial decisions reached to commission a twenty-five-metre, hand-drawn animation that threads together the social and political realities of past and present-day Hong Kong.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020 at 1:30pm:Matilda Aslizadeh with Grant Arnold Matilda Aslizadeh’s sculptural video installation Moly and Kassandra (2018) addresses the relationship between culture and resource extraction by precisely interweaving statistical charts with images of monumental excavations into the surface of the earth and scenes of operatic divination. Join the artist, in conversation with Grant Arnold, Audain Curator of British Columbia Art, to discuss themes of economic policy, divination and agency in her work and the upcoming exhibition NEXT Matilda Aslizadeh: Moly and Kassandra.
Friday, April 17, 2020 at 4:30pm:Spring Reading with Indigenous Brilliance In celebration of National Poetry Month, the Vancouver Art Gallery is pleased to virtually host Indigenous Brilliance’s Spring Reading Session, presented in conversation with the exhibition Shuvinai Ashoona: Mapping Worlds.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020 at 1:30pm:Panel: How Can Museums be Spaces for Healing? Abby Chen is the Head of Contemporary Art and Senior Associate Curator at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Regan Pro is the Kayla Skinner Deputy Director of Education & Public Engagement at the Seattle Art Museum, where she develops arts learning opportunities centered on equity, relevancy and curiosity. Melissa Lee is the Director of Education and Public Programs at the Vancouver Art Gallery, where she oversees public programs designed for diverse audiences of all ages to enhance the understanding of the Gallery’s over 12,000-piece art collection and of travelling contemporary and modern exhibitions.
Friday, April 24, 2020 at 4:30pm: Art and Humour: Ese Atawo and Courtenay Mayes Ese Atawo is a Nigerian-Canadian actor and comedian. Raised in Toronto, ON, Atawo’s love of live performance began through participation in local theatre and festivals. Courtenay Mayes (she/her) is an artist living on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish communities. Exploring the healing arts and other realms of consciousness, her performative sensory experiments are informed by dreams, writing, literature and psychotropic experiences.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020 at 1:30pm:What is Live? With Stella Lochman In this edition of Art Connects, Stella Lochman, Manager of Public Engagement at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, will discuss this shift towards live, virtual programming. She will also share her current interest in online performative exercises, Happy Hours, Vogue Jams and quarantine dance parties.
Friday, May 1, 2020 at 4:30pm:An Introduction to Voguing and Ballroom Culture SPEAKERS: Ralph Escamillan, Founder of Van Vogue Jam and Kiki Mother Gvasalia, Vancouver, with Slim Xtravaganza, New York City; Isla Cheadle, Founder of Banjee Ball, House of Ebony, Los Angeles; Twysted Miyake-Mugler, Founder of Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance, Toronto
Tuesday, May 5, at 1:30pm:Preserving the Collection in Times of Crisis with Tara Fraser In this fascinating talk, Tara Fraser, Head Conservator, will discuss the complexities of preservation during this time of closure and quarantine as she continues to care for the more than 12,000 works of art in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s collection. The limitations of space, humidity and seismic upgrades will be discussed as key factors in her daily problem-solving routine of prolonging the lives of artworks and preserving the collection.
Friday, May 8, at 4:30pm:The Joy of Painting with Jean Paul Langlois After a brief introduction to his work with Art Rental & Sales Manager Zoe Mackoff de Miranda, Langlois will captivate audiences with a performative painting session in his studio. While he paints, Langlois will talk about the techniques he uses and answer questions from the audience.
Tuesday, May 26 at 1:30pm: Artist Talk: Ken Lum In this edition of Art Connects, the Gallery invites Ken Lum to speak about his artistic practice. The renowned Vancouver-born artist will take a look back at a selection of his works in the Gallery’s permanent collection and reflect on his first career retrospective, presented at the Gallery in 2011.
