Waaaaay back when I was young, in the age of the dinosaurs, Vancouver airport was, well, it just was. Far better shops/dining than O'Hare (and on the non-secure side of security, to boot), but just kind of meh when it came to its look.
Don't ask me to pinpoint when, but at a certain point, the airport authority took on the idea of building, renovating, redesigning, and redecorating seriously and enthusiastically. Nowadays, the arrival at YVR from the US is a small thrill, a stroll amongst museum-quality First Nations artwork. Many is the time I've seen fellow passengers stop to take photos.
Last Saturday Conrad and I drove out to the International Terminal to pick up Beloved Sister, arriving home from a vacation in Ireland. Given a bit of a wait, I slipped upstairs to the departures level to take photos of a magnificent piece, Bill Reid's Jade Canoe.
The Canoe, the companion piece to the Black Canoe the sits in the Canadian Embassy in DC, is there, out in the open, touchable. No, really. You can go up to it and touch it, really get a close look. Remarkable. And it IS remarkable work. I keep an image of a Bill Reid work on my laptop desktop and have done so for quite some time now. The Haida art stirs me greatly.
Conrad and I have a funny little in-joke about the canoe. On our first trip to Vancouver, we flew separately - I was staying in BC longer, and I was on a tighter budget back then. I told him we'd meet up, post-flight, at the canoe. He had a heck of a time figuring out where it was we were supposed to meet. Such a large sculpture that I evidently took a little for granted. I assure you, he knows where it is now!
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