Critic's Picks: Beer tastings via Zoom and a pair of art exhibitions

FOOD

What: Virtual Craft Beer & Bites Tasting
Where: Zoom
When: Saturday Feb. 13, 7 p.m.
Tickets: $80 (includes food & beverages) from offtheeatentracktours.ca

Why: Beer and food events have found a way to survive during the pandemic, with a mixture of online content and in-person offerings. A perfect example is the latest event from Off the Eaten Track Tours, a local culinary tour company. Owner Bonnie Todd has partnered with beer expert Joe Wiebe for Virtual Craft Beer & Bites Tasting, which unites local food partners The Dutch Bakery, Bull & Sons Delicatessen, Caribbean Village Cafe and the Victoria BBQ House & Bakery with beer pairings from four breweries for a Zoom tasting Saturday night. The food and beer samples will be delivered to each guest on the afternoon of the event, so everything will align when the online session goes live at 7 p.m. The monthly series continues March 6. Visit offtheeatentracktours.ca for more information.

ART

What: Haren Vakil presents Line in Motion
Where: Gage Gallery Arts Collective, 2031 Oak Bay Ave.
When: Feb. 16-March 7
Admission: Free

Why: Twenty ink drawings from Victoria artist Haren Vakil will be showcased through March 7 at Gage Gallery in Oak Bay, with the artist in attendance several times between Feb. 16 and Feb. 28 (visit gagegallery.ca for exact times). Take the opportunity to meet the man behind the arresting imagery that makes Line in Motion an exhibition of extremely high quality and creativity. Vakil, who is from Mumbai, India, is a trained architect who worked during his youth in the Dutch town that birthed Hieronymus Bosch, so the attention to detail is often exact; white space and shading are put to very good use. But his imagination works wonders all on its own. For more information, phone 250-592-2760.

ART

What: Blue & White: A Global Product
Where: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1040 Moss St.
When: Through Jan. 30, 2022 (closed Mondays)
Admission: $14 (adults), $11 (seniors/students), $2.50 (youth), children under five are free

Why: The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s first exhibition of 2021 features more than 200 items from the gallery’s permanent collection, including the porcelain artifacts that give Blue & White its name. Co-curators Heng Wu (Asian art) and Michelle Jacques (head of exhibitions and collections) highlight the history of the cobalt-hued form, a staple of Chinese ceramics for centuries, and delve deeper into the birth, development and cultural impact of porcelain and its roots in the Tang Dynasty. For more information, visit aggv.ca.