For two summers, Cathy Burrell volunteered at the Vancouver Art Gallery. As an ambassador, she was stationed in the lobby, where she would answer visitors' questions. She heard a lot of the same inquiries: Why do we have to pay $21 to get in, and where are the Emily Carr paintings?
"I think that the Vancouver Art Gallery has a bit of a split personality," Ms. Burrell said, later explaining: "You've got Emily Carr shoved up on the fifth floor, five pieces being shown; you've got a collection of Japanese animé on the third floor; you've got on the second floor, a Chinese artist. It was a lot to explain to people.… I think the people that come from the rest of the world deserve to see something that is well thought out."
Ms. Burrell made the comments Thursday night at a public forum on the future of the VAG, an issue that has become a hotly debated preoccupation of the city's chattering classes since the gallery indicated its desire to move to the site of a former bus depot at Cambie and Georgia Streets.
The desire for an iconic, purpose-built venue is one side of the intensifying debate over relocating the gallery. On the other side, the question is: Why spend up to $400-million to move the gallery away from the heart of downtown?
The standing-room-only crowd was packed with city and gallery officials, and distinguished artists and architects - among them Roy Arden (for the move) and Bing Thom (against it).
The VAG says it needs to expand so it can offer visitors like those Ms. Burrell encountered some exposure to its permanent collection, in particular works by Ms. Carr and other iconic B.C. artists. The current facility also lacks a lecture hall, adequate space for educational programming and sufficient storage space.
"It's outgrown the building," said builder/philanthropist Michael Audain, the chair of the VAG's relocation committee and one of the evening's panelists.
The city, which has yet to receive a formal proposal from the VAG, has indicated that if the VAG is granted that land, it will likely have to share it - probably with an office tower.
That point has been emphasized by city Councillor Heather Deal, who is taking the lead on the issue for the city.
Ms. Deal, who told The Globe and Mail this week that council had received only seven e-mails supporting the move, noted that since The Globe published that fact, a flood of supportive e-mails had been received.
The issue has caused deep divisions among the city's deep thinkers, and that was apparent at the forum, with a wide range of opinions expressed, as well as suggestions. Why not have a new VAG share the land with a badly needed concert hall? What about building underneath the current facility? Or expanding to the Sears building across the street? Or keeping the current site and constructing a satellite gallery elsewhere for contemporary exhibitions?
While there was no overwhelmingly prevailing opinion, the most passionate and forceful speaker of the night was Andrew Gruft, professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia's School of Architecture. "The VAG's moving … would be akin to tearing the heart out of the city.… We've got this wonderful kind of synergy with the Vancouver Art Gallery, our premier art institution in the heart of the city. Man, people would kill to get that anywhere else. And here we're going to walk away from it?"
But panelist Andrew Pask of the Vancouver Public Space Network says that from 1901 to 1950, the old bus-depot site was "one of the city's finest gathering areas," where people came together for carnivals, military marches and protests.
Mr. Audain wanted to clear something else up: If the VAG vacates the courthouse, the building would not be torn down. Other groups are vying for that space; among them, the Museum of Vancouver.
After more than two hours of arguments, gallery director Kathleen Bartels, who sat quietly in the audience throughout the debate, said she felt it was a good discussion. "Nothing really surprised me," she said. "We've been at this for a long time."