Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Emily Carr Part Two

This is Always Wishing You Were Somewhere Else by Louisa Tsui.


As promised, I am going to show you more of the decorated electrical boxes on Granville and tell you more about Emily Carr.

When I finished Monday Emily had felt that she wasn't being appreciated for her artwork and had spent fifteen years doing little painting and running a boarding house.

But Ms. Carr's work was coming to the attention of some influential people like a prominent ethnologist by the name of Marius Barbeau who persuaded the Director of Canada's National  Gallery, Eric Brown, to visit Emily in 1927.
You are looking at All The Possiblities by Roberta Chang.
At Brown's invitation Carr sent 26 oil paintings along with samples of her pottery and rugs with indigenous designs east to be included in an exhibition of West Coast Aboriginal Art that the gallery was having. This exhibit  which included works by Edwin Holgate and Group of Seven founder, A.Y. Jackson traveled from Ottawa to Toronto and Montreal. Carr visited the exhibition in the spring and timed her journey so that she was able to meet members of the Group of Seven who at the time were Canada's most recognized modern painters. This encounter changed the direction of Carr's artistic life.

This is Bird's Eye View by Brenna Randlett. There may be something at the top but I am too short to see!
I haven't shown this side of the electrical boxes because they are all the same. A little of the artwork with the 'wrap' logo and the name of the artist and title of the piece.

The encounter with the Group of Seven ended Carr's artistic isolation of the previous fifteen years and reinvigorated her sense of purpose. It may also have assisted Carr with her spiritual side. Emily's 'distrust for institutional religion' pervades much of her art and at this time, like many artists of her time, she became influenced by Theosophic thought. She began to view God as nature and led a spiritual way of life, rejecting the Church.
Sylvia Chan created 'Wiring Problem'.
This meeting led to more support for Carr and her art but one person stood out. Artist and Group of Seven member Lawren Harris told Carr "You are one of us". An important statement to an artist who not only had a self-deprecating manner but who had also just about given up on her passion.

New Vancouver + Old Vancouver by Sarah Wilson.

During the late 1920s and 1930s Emily Carr continued her journeys to places like the Queen Charlottes and other First Nations' settlements. Her work was finally being recognized and shown in places like London, Paris, Washington and Amsterdam as well as major Canadian cities.

In 1939 Emily Carr suffered a severe heart attack and was forced to move in with her sister Alice. She shifted her attention from painting to writing and with the help of her friend Ira Dilworth, who was principal of Victoria High School, Carr was able to see her first book Klee Wyck published in 1941. A year later Carr was awarded the Governor-General's award for non fiction for her debut literary work.

On March 2, 1945 - shortly before she was to be awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of British Columbia - Emily Carr died in the James Bay Inn in Victoria, British Columbia.

How Electrifying! By Jocelyn Chan
I want to thank the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, the DVBIA and the art students for inspiring these last two entries. Friday I will mention some more on Emily Carr and her works.

I hope you find the beauty around you.


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