DECEMBER 2010

Coming off the heels of the financial downturn of 2009, everyone in the Vancouver art community was “cautiously optimistic” as 2010 unfolded.

Fortunately, Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and that provided a great kick start to what turned out to be quite a busy year. Denbigh was involved in a number of art projects for the Olympics.

The biggest by far was the dismantling, storing and re-installation of all of the natural science artifacts from the Search Gallery at Science World, including a full size T-Rex replica. It wasn’t as exciting as the Canada and USA hockey final but we felt like we did our part in the magical transformation of the city.

Beginning in the spring, and throughout the year, Denbigh was involved in numerous art auctions and fundraisers held by various galleries, auction houses and charities. All were very successful and many reached record highs not realized the year before.

Besides the day to day movement of art, 2010 was filled with talent-testing installations, muscle straining sculpture placement and ridiculously tight shipping deadlines. There were also a variety of challenging packing projects, and no year would be the same without a few middle-of-the-night airport excursions.

All in all, everything seemed to turn in quite a positive direction for the art community. The Museum of Anthropology reopened its doors in March, after being closed for six months for renovations. The 55 million, two-year renovation is still ongoing but the redesigned entry, the Great Hall and the new research wing are complete. Now showing at the Museum is an important exhibition “Man Ray, African Art and the Modernist Lens”, from October 30, 2010 to January 23, 2011. At the close of the show, Denbigh will be organizing the returning shipments to the European lenders.

The Vancouver Art Gallery hosted some major shows throughout 2010, including a very popular Leonardo Da Vinci drawing exhibit and works by Renoir, Degas and Toulouse – Latrec on loan from the Musee D’Orsay, in Paris. The exciting announcement of their plans to move and substantially expand was widely embraced by the city. We all look forward to watching the progress toward the building of a new state of the art gallery at 688 Cambie Street, the new cultural hub of Vancouver.

Both the Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery and the Contemporary Art Gallery hosted some remarkable exhibits and continue to the contemporary hot spots for the arts. Commercial galleries displayed an array of new talent and old favorites and seemed to all enjoy a busier year as well.

And after a lot of transporting, installing, framing, packing, storing and shipping, we partied! Denbigh had its Christmas party at the Town Hall restaurant this year. Current and old Denbigh alumni - and of course all the spouses who have to listen to the art stories over and over - all had a great time.

We want to thank all of our customers once again for all of your loyal and continued support and we wish everyone a happy, healthy and safe 2011.