January brings tours, paneldiscussions, music and thelaunch of two new exhibi-tions at The Art Gallery ofGreater Victoria.

First opened in 1951, thegallery boasts the largest

public collection of art inBritish Columbia, withalmost 18,000 works of artshowcased in sevengalleries.

Visitors can browsethe gallery at their leisureor join drop-in tours onSaturdays and Sundays. Art-theory tours, with morein-depth discussion, takeplace on the third Thursdayand Friday of the month.The gallery also offerscustom group as well asschool tours.

The gallery stages

15 exhibitions a year.Current exhibitions includeShin Hanga, the new printmovement of early 20thcentury Japan, Conversa-tions with Lucie Rie andEmily Carr and the YoungGeneration.

Family Sunday eventstake place once a month,with activities such as sto-rytelling and crafts gearedtoward making the daymemorable for youngeraudiences. The theme of theday reflects one of thegallery’s ongoing exhibits.

In January, the gallerywill hold its Winter SeasonOpening, featuring two newexhibits. The public istreated to admission bydonation at this event.

On permanent display isthe work of Emily Carr,with an exhibition thatincludes paintings, excerptsfrom her books andarchival images.

At the end of the month,the gallery kicks off the 6th season of Jazz at theGallery, a series of Sundayafternoon performances by

talented West Coast musi-cians. The concerts rununtil Apr. 26.

Admission is $13 foradults, $11 for seniors andstudents, and free for mem-bers. An annual family $75membership includes twoadults and up to four chil-dren 17 and under. Thegallery is open 10 a.m. to 5p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday,Friday and Saturday,10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdayand noon to 5 p.m. Sundayand holidays at 1040 MossSt. Details at aggv.ca.

timescolonist.com | TIMES COLONISTD12 THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2015

EXPLORECompiled by Pedro Arrais > Email: parrais@timescolonist.com

OG

CONCERTS CHECK IT OUT

ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONISTFrank Hudson, director of Victoria Whisky Festival, and Colin Southcombe show off a sampling of spirits atThe Sticky Wicket in Victoria. The festival runs Thursday to Sunday at the Hotel Grand Pacific.

ATTRACTIONS

In the United States, the mostsought-after ambassador fromCanada is not a person, but aspirit. Canadian whisky is

immensely popular south of theborder, amounting to more than 200million bottles exported annually.

Attendees at the 10th annualVictoria Whisky Festival thisweekend will be able to sampleCanadian whiskies that areproduced solely for export and not usually available here.

“Canadian distilleries have beenmaking whisky for more than250 years,” said Davin de Kergom-meaux, a trained sommelier whohas been writing and talking aboutwhisky for more than 12 years.

“Canadian whisky was, until Bour-bon surpassed it in 2010, the best-selling whisky in the U.S. for manyyears.”

Aficionados at the three-dayfestival will be able to sampleabout two dozen Canadian whiskiesas well as 250 made by 50 distiller-ies from eight countries. For thefirst time, France has joined thelineup, which includes Scotland,Ireland, England, United States,Japan, Taiwan and India.

While the number of labels onhand at the festival is exciting,what is even more impressive isthe number of single-barrel andsmall-batch whiskies.

“Some are smooth and thenthere are others who kick you rightin the face,” said de Kergom-meaux, who is also a judge for the5th annual Whisky Awards.

He said distillers have startedto craft premium product to appealto connoisseurs in the last fiveyears.

“They have really upped theirgame. We now have some $50 bot-

tles that taste like $200 bottles ofscotch.”

Over the years, there’s been agrowing interest in the art ofwhisky tasting. The festival hasresponded with 36 master classesled by presenters from around theworld.

There are eight consumerproduct tastings leading up tothe Grand Tasting event on Satur-day evening.

The festival supports a varietyof charities. By this year, they willhave donated more than $200,000to organizations including theT.L.C., Fund For Kids and VictoriaCrime Stoppers.

Tickets to the grand tastings are$52, classes are $33. The ConsumerTasting is $125 and VIP ConsumerTasting $175. Whisky awardspresentation and dinner $65. Sometastings are already sold out.Events run Thursday to Sundayat the Hotel Grand Pacific, 463 Belleville St.

For information, go tovictoriawhiskyfestival.com.

Whisky fest spotlightsCanadian distilleries

CHECK IT OUT

This is the week to checkout the local talent onVictoria’s classical musicscene. Three concerts areoffered, admission bydonation.

Christ Church Cathe-dral’s Friday lunchtimerecital, Eine Kleine LunchMusik, features WendyStofer and Jane Edler-Davis.

The duo will play a col-lection of four-hand pianomusic, with a program ofaudience-pleasing musicby Moritz Moszkowski,Erik Satie, Antonin Dvo-rak, Johannes Brahms andArvo Part.

Admission by donation.The recital runs 12:15to 1 p.m. at the cathedral,Quadra Street at RocklandAvenue.

For details, pleasecontact Catherine Allenat the church orchristchurchcathedral.bc.ca.

Saturday afternoon’sEmerging Artists AlumniSeries: Trio Dolce is thefirst of a new concertseries showcasing thediverse talents of Univer-sity of Victoria’s School ofMusic alumni.

Performers ShawnEarle, clarinet; LaineLongton, cello; and ClareYuan, piano, presentRomantic Intuition, withLudwig van Beethoven’sTrio in B-flat major Op. 11,Nino Rota’s Trio for clar-inet, cello and piano, andTrio in A minor, Op. 114 byJohannes Brahms.

Admission by donation.The performance runsfrom 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.at UVic’s Phillip T. YoungRecital Hall, MacLaurinBuilding, B-Wing.

• The Vancouver Inter-national Song Institute andthe University of VictoriaSchool of Music presentAll Around the Circle: AnEvening of Lieder andSong on Saturday night.

Performers includesoprano Martha Guth,tenor Benjamin Butter-field, baritone Tyler Dun-can and pianists ErikaSwitzer and LauraLoewen.

The educational insti-tute has been a ground-breaking centre for ArtSong study, performance,and creation for musicianssince 2007.

Proceeds from thisconcert will be used forstudent scholarships andoperating costs for theinstitute.

Admission is by dona-tion. The performancestarts at 8 p.m.

The last two perform-ances take place in thePhilip T. Young RecitalHall, MacLaurin Building,Room B-125 at UVic.

For details, go tofinearts.uvic.ca.

Classicalmusic,for asong The Friends of the B.C.

Archives are hostingVictoria — A City Goes toWar, a lecture by JimKempling, on Sunday.

Kempling is a Ph.D.student in history at theUniversity of Victoria anda retired army colonel. Histalk will focus on how localresidents coped with theFirst World War.

He has authorized twowebsites as part of hiswork: birthofaregiment.com, which examines theformation of PrincessPatricia’s Canadian LightInfantry and, acitygoestowar.ca, which providesmuch of the research andarchival material for histalk.

Admission $5. Theevent runs 2 to 3:30 p.m.in the Newcombe Hall atthe Royal B.C. Museum,675 Belleville St.

For information, go toroyalbcmuseum.bc.ca.

Learn howVictorianscopedwith war

Spend an evening with the Right Honourable Joe Clark, former PrimeMinister of Canada, onMonday.

The federal politicianwill be in town to discussthemes in his book HowWe Lead: Canada in a Cen-tury of Change and whatCanada’s role should be onthe international stage.

The presentation is partof the Eminent CanadianSpeakers Series, hosted bythe Saanich Gulf IslandsGreen Party

Tickets $18.25. Doorsopen at 6:30, event runs7 to 9 p.m. at the MaryWinspear Centre, 2243Beacon Ave. Sidney. Boxoffice 250-656-0275 ormarywinspear.ca/event/evening-right-honourable-joe-clark.

Spend anevening withJoe Clark

Gallery starts new year with two openings

VISUAL ART

HistoricCraigdarroch Castle. 1050 JoanCres., daily 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. 250-592-5323.Fort Rodd Hill and FisgardLighthouse National Historic Sites.603 Fort Rodd Hill Rd.Daily 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. 250-478-5849.pc.gc.ca/fortroddhill Point Ellice House NationalHistoric Site: 2616 Pleasant St.Closed for the season.250-385-5578.Saanich Historical ArtifactsSociety. Heritage Acres, 7321Lochside Dr., 9 a.m.-4 p.m. daily.250-652-5522.St. Ann’s Academy,835 Humboldt St. Historic chapel and interior, 1-4 p.m. Thursday to Sunday. 250-953-8828.friendsofstannsacademy.com

Museums Ashton Armoury Museum. Tuesday,Thursday and Saturday 9 a.m.-noon,724 Vanalman Ave. 250-363-8346 orashtonarmymuseum.ca British Columbia AviationMuseum. Daily 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 1910Norseman Rd., Sidney. 250-655-3300or bcam.net CFB Esquimalt Naval and MilitaryMuseum. Naden (off Admirals Road).10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. 250-363-4312 ornavalandmilitarymuseum.orgCanadian Scottish (PrincessMary’s) Museum. Tuesdays 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Donation. Wheelchair accessi-ble. Bay Street Armoury, 715 Bay St.Parking on Field Street.250-363-8753.Nanaimo Museum.100 Museum Way, Nanaimo,

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday to Saturday.nanaimomuseum.caRoss Bay Villa HouseMuseum.1490 Fairfield Rd.Toursevery Saturday, 2 p.m. Cost: $5.rossbayvilla.orgRoyal British Columbia Museum.675 Belleville St. Daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m.Archives 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Fri and1-5 p.m. Saturday. Our LivingLanguages: First Peoples’ Voices inB.C. to June 2017. Commemorationof the 100th anniversary of the FirstWorld War film: Answering the Call.Wildlife Photographer of the Yearexhibit, to April 6. 250-356-7226 orroyalbcmuseum.bc.ca Saanich Pioneer Society, LogCabin Museum and Archives.7910 Polo Park Crescent, openSaturday noon-3 p.m.saanichpioneersociety.orgSidney Historical Museum.

Daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 2423 BeaconAve., Sidney. 250-655-6355.sidneymuseum.caSooke Region Museum. Tuesday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 2070 PhillipsRd., Sooke. 250-642-6351 or sookeregionmuseum.com Victoria Police Museum. Monday-Friday 1-4 p.m. 850 Caledonia Ave.250-656-0853.

FamilyThe Bug Zoo, 631 Courtney St.,Closed for renovation throughJanuary. 250-384-BUGS orbugzoo.bc.ca.Imax Victoria inside the Royal B.C.Museum, 675 Belleville St. Hourlyfrom 10 a.m. until early evening. 250-480-4887. imaxvictoria.comMiniature World, 649 Humboldt St.

Daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 250-385-9731.miniatureworld.com Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre,9811 Seaport Pl. in Sidney PierBuilding, Sidney; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily.250-665-7511, oceandiscovery.ca Sidney Museum 10th Annual LegoExhibit, 2423 Beacon Ave., daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m. to March 31.Victoria Butterfly Gardens,1461 Benvenuto Ave., Brentwood Bay.Daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 250-652-3822 or1-877-722-0272. butterflygardens.comGardensAbkhazi Garden, 1964 Fairfield Rd.Garden open daily, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.The Teahouse, Wednesday-Sunday,11 a.m.-4 p.m. to March 31. 250-598-8096 or conservancy.bc.ca/abkhaziButchart Gardens. Daily to Feb. 28,9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. 250-652-5256 orbutchartgardens.com.

Finnerty Gardens at the Universityof Victoria. Free and open year-rounddawn to dusk. Entrance nearInterfaith Chapel, parking lot 6.250-721-7014; uvic.ca/finnerty/Gardens at HCP. Daily 9-6 p.m.505 Quayle Rd. 250-479-6162.Government House Gardens. Dawnto dusk, 1401 Rockland Ave. Free.Tours at 250-356-5139.Hatley Park Gardens. 10 a.m. todusk. 250-391-2666 or hatleypark.caParksGoldstream Provincial Park.Open 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. 250-478-9414.Hatley Park National Historic Site.2005 Sooke Rd.,10 a.m.-5 p.m.250-391-2666. hatleypark.caSwan Lake Christmas Hill NatureSanctuary. Monday-Friday,8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., weekends noon-4p.m. swanlake.bc.ca