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Culture Days: artifacts, activities, and art

Langley Centennial Museum celebrates Culture Days Sept. 30-Oct. 1
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An opportunity to create, participate, share, and have a lot of fun will be offered when the Langley Centennial Museum celebrates Culture Days on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.

Culture Days was first held in 2010 to raise Canadians’ awareness, accessibility, participation, and engagement in the arts and cultural life of their communities. The museum, located at 9135 King Street in Fort Langley, will mark the occasion with a series of free events and the public is encouraged to drop in and enjoy.

An all-ages event kicks off Culture Days on Saturday, Sept. 30, from 10 a.m. to noon, when curatorial assistant Shea Wind shares artifacts from the past during Langley Centennial Museum Collection: Hands On Highlights. Visitors can gather in the museum’s foyer to guess what the artifacts are and see how they worked. Guests can try a viewfinder from their great-great grandparents’ era, see antique coin banks, and discover pioneer chores our ancestors did to get clean and stay warm.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30, the Creative Cube Mobile Art Studio will set up on the museum’s north lawn. Guests of all ages can join instructors from Creative Cube – a 32-foot custom mobile art studio – and learn how to make their own “silly socks” using colourful tie-dye techniques. A “messy science” activity will also be available outside the cube, where visitors can make their own glow-in-the-dark slime.

The next event is Fabric, Beads & Buttons! an all-ages event that runs in the Museum courtyard on Saturday, Sept. 30, from noon to 2 p.m. Using “up-cycled” old T-shirts and other garments, museum instructors will explain how to make colourful, wearable, beaded jewelry. With the help of a button maker, magazine clipping collages, drawings, and sketches can also become eye-catching, wearable art.

Adults are encouraged to join artists Dian Grant and Lois Hunter for an Exhibition Tour, Fibre Arts A-Z by the Langley Weavers’ & Spinners’ Guild. The guided tour through the colourful exhibit will be presented in the museum gallery on Saturday, Sept. 30, from noon to 1 p.m. Participants can learn about the processes, materials, and techniques that went into many of the pieces and explore the informal “yarn bombing” installation that was created for the exterior of the museum.

Artists from the Weavers’ & Spinners’ Guild will also lead an all-ages 100km Coat Demonstration in the Museum gallery, Saturday, Sept. 30, from 1 to 3 p.m. Visitors can watch and ask questions as the artists work on their 100 km Coat, made entirely of resources and talent available within our region.

Culture Days events continue at Langley Centennial Museum on Sunday, Oct. 1, when an all-ages Paper Marbling & Printmaking session is offered in the courtyard from 10 a.m. to noon. Paper marbling is a fun, easy, and experimental process that creates colourful swirls of paint on paper and other surfaces. Guests can try their hands at using tools and water-soluble inks to print a variety of leaves, feathers, and other natural textures to make beautiful, layered collaged prints.

An Interactive Presentation: The Mobile Museum will follow from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 1. All ages can join B.C. history presenter Tony Hardie in the museum program room as he shares his knowledge, engaging personal history, and extensive collection of authentic B.C. pioneer, First Nations, gold rush, and fur trade artifacts. Visitors can ask questions, see, and touch rare artifacts and expertly crafted replicas while learning more about the history of this province and its people.

All visitors to Culture Days are encouraged to take a “selfie” at the Township of Langley’s photo booth for the chance to have their image incorporated into a photo-mosaic legacy mural designed to mark Canada’s 150th birthday. The Photo Mosaic Mural Project: A Community of Communities will be available for all ages in the Museum courtyard from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30 and Sunday, Oct. 1.

Visit museum.tol.ca for more information.