The late Curt Lang was a legend in Vancouver. An intellectual and a catalyst, his interests spanned many worlds.
Surrey Art Gallery Association is presenting an illustrated reading and talk on Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. by North Vancouver-based author Claudia Cornwall about her acclaimed biography/memoir At the World’s Edge: Curt Lang’s Vancouver 1937–1998. It reveals, with precision and suspense, how Lang – who carved a meteoric path through the Vancouver cultural scene from the hip subculture years to the electronic postmodern 1990s – packed his too-short life with pursuits ranging from poetry and painting to log salvage, boat building, and software development.
His story parallels Vancouver’s own mid-twentieth-century evolution. The book – which includes some of Lang’s previously unpublished poetry and drawings, and a portfolio of forty rare 1972 Vancouver street photographs – vividly brings to life an era and a way of life that has all but vanished.
Cornwall was a friend of Lang, and has been a freelance writer for more than 20 years. She contributed to the book: The Life and Art of Frank Molnar, Jack Hardman, and LeRoy Jensen (Mother Tongue Publishing, 2009) and her book, Letter from Vienna: A Daughter Uncovers Her Family’s Jewish Past (Douglas & McIntyre) won the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize in British Columbia for 1996. She has been published in the Globe and Mail, Reader’s Digest, BC Business, and the Tyee. In 2009, she received a $20,000 journalism award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to support medical journalism and reporting. Claudia grew up in Vancouver and studied philosophy at the University of British Columbia and the University of Calgary.
There will be time for questions and conversation during and following the talk. The event concludes by 9 p.m. Refreshments are provided. This event is presented by the Surrey Art Gallery Association in partnership with the Surrey Art Gallery, and with support from the Arts Council of Surrey. Admission is free.
Surrey Art Gallery Association (SAGA) is a non-profit society that offers its members the opportunity to participate in and respond to contemporary art, and be part of a community that actively supports the Surrey Art Gallery.
Surrey Art Gallery is located at 13750 88 Ave. Call 604-501-5566 or check www.surrey.ca/arts
