Pack a sketchbook (and maybe some hiking shoes): An artist's guide to the Museum of Anthropology

Let's go to the museum! Over the next few weeks, we'll be discovering Canada's favourite museums and public galleries and sharing little lifehacks for planning your trip right. What are the must-sees? The hidden gems? At every stop, a different artist will be your tour guide.

This David Ullock/Doug Nhung mural in Vancouver isn't a picture of anything you'd find at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. But inspiration is a funny thing. And for Ullock — the West Coast artist who's going to be your tour guide to the MOA — there's no place in the city that excites his imagination more.

The location alone is spectacular for obvious reasons. Picture a cliff-top temple of concrete and glass with ocean views.

But what makes it inspiring? For Ullock, that's a more intangible question.

The MOA's collection is dedicated to global arts and cultures, with a particular focus on the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. To visit is to discover what connects the human experience over centuries and continents, he says. "It feels like a privilege being able to see this work." Here are his tips for getting the most out of your trip.

Go exploring before you even get a ticket

However you get to the MOA (and if you're a tourist, you'll probably spend about half an hour driving there from downtown), Ullock suggests exploring the grounds first. In fact, the MOA's outdoor sites are free to visit, so if you're travelling on a budget, this might be the most valuable tip of all.

There's a path that'll take you around back, and Ullock suggests walking the full perimeter. "Behind the museum, they have several totem poles and long house replicas." That's the Haida House in the picture below, which was built by 'Namgis artist Doug Cranmer and Haida artist Bill Reid, who also oversaw the project.

Did you pack a sketchbook?

"When I'm there, it's predominantly to digest the artwork and maybe sketch," says Ullock. "Sometimes I just get so consumed looking at the work I don't take time to sketch," he admits — but bringing paper and pencils is a must, nonetheless. "I'd say have your sketchbook ready at any point. It's a vast collection, but it's all very inspired."

"The way I approach my art-making is by trying to tap into the non-physical, or something beyond what we're experiencing right now. And I think a lot of ancient cultures did something very similar. They were trying to escape themselves, to tap into whatever is beyond that, and I really connect with these pieces when I get to see them." Ullock he adds that he's not there to copy what he sees. "I'm not entitled to it. But I'm intrinsically very inspired by it."

Beyond The Great Hall — an expansive, light-filled room that's home to many poles from Pacific Northwest First Nations — Ullock usually heads straight for his favourite place to draw: the Multiversity Galleries. "They're great for sketching because they're the most quiet rooms."

Open the drawers!

More than 9,000 objects from around the world are waiting inside the Multiversity Galleries — some hiding in plain sight. "There are rooms with hundreds and hundreds of drawers that are full of these little things," says Ullock. "You can't pull the things out of the drawers, but you can open the drawers just to analyze."

"Some of them are in little stand-alone filing cabinets or they're embedded in the display cases. It's very apparent they're all there, but people don't play with them. That's a tip! Play with the drawers, guys!"

Masks, masks, masks

What you're seeing in the photo below are items from the MOA's Kwakwaka'wakw Potlatch collection, but the Multiversity Galleries contain masks from many cultures and eras.

"The masks are the most exciting part for me," says Ullock. "100 per cent the masks. I can't stress this enough!"

"It's fascinating to me, the meaning behind all these masks and the fact they're used to tell stories all across the globe. These are peoples who had no contact with each other, right?"

"All of these global cultures use masks and they're all different but they're all very similar, and that's very interesting to me," says Ullock, who says he finds them relevant to our lives in 2019. Mask motifs pop up in his own work, and while talking about the MOA collection, he waxes on about social media: "Humans are all about masks. Instagram is a perfect representation of that."

How about hiking shoes? Did you pack those?

If you're like Ullock, you won't want to leave. But when the time comes (say, four hours after arrival), he suggests some low-key outdoor adventure.

The MOA opened in the '70s, and architect Arthur Erickson chose to build it directly on the foundations of a former Canadian military base. (The MOA's famed Bill Reid sculpture, The Raven and the First Men, is actually installed on one of the original gun mounts.) 

You can read more about the site's history here, and more wartime ruins are a short hike away. Ullock suggests grabbing picnic provisions from the MOA Café before taking the Trail 4 staircase, which is found on the north side of the museum grounds.

There's a "beautiful, secluded beach" directly below the MOA, he says, and if you're up for a walk, keep moving northeast toward Vancouver's Tower Beach — a rocky stretch where Second World War gun towers can still be found.

"They are just totally covered in graffiti. Like, graffiti from the '60s and the '70s to graffiti that could have happened last weekend. If you're really into an adventure," he says, "not many people know about it."

For more info on how to plan a visit to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, visit www.moa.ubc.ca