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British Columbia Destinations
On the trail of Emily Carr
By Sue Kernaghan
Eccentric, rebellious, visionary, and immensely gifted, Emily Carr is, half a century after her death, firmly established as British Columbia's best-known and best-loved artist.
Her haunting landscapes have helped define a uniquely West Coast sense of place, and her portrayals of remote First Nations villages are among our only records of a rich chapter in British Columbia history. Carr was also a talented writer, publishing seven largely autobiographical books, including Klee Wyck, which won the Governor General's Award in 1941.
Born in Victoria in 1871, Carr studied art in California, Britain and France before returning to B.C. permanently in 1911 (Carr returned to B.C. following her studies at each). Although she spent much of her life in Victoria, eking out a living as, among other things, a landlady and a dog breeder, many of her most memorable works were inspired by her journeys to B.C.'s remote coastal villages and forests.
The best place to see these and other works, especially this fall, is at the Vancouver Art Gallery, where the permanent Emily Carr Collection normally occupies an entire floor. From October 7, 2006 to January 7, 2007, the Gallery hosts Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon, the first major touring retrospective of the artist's work in more than 30 years. The exhibit brings together nearly 200 objects, from paintings and drawings to books, maps, and photographs, by Carr and others, from collections across North America.
Also in Vancouver, at the Museum of Anthropology on the University of British Columbia Campus, is one of the First Nations works that inspired Carr. Totem Mother, Kitwancool, originally from northwestern British Columbia, is on display in the museum's Great Hall.
Of course a true Carr pilgrimage also calls for a visit to Victoria, the artist's home town. Here the trail starts at Emily Carr House, her birthplace and childhood home on Government Street. This 1863 Victorian house, renovated according to Carr's own descriptions from her autobiographical Book of Small, is home to family artifacts, including some of Emily's original writings and pottery. Nearby Beacon Hill Park, a rolling tract of seaside greenery, gave Carr her first taste of the natural world.
A few blocks north of Carr House is the Royal B.C. Museum complex, home to one of BC's leading museums as well as Thunderbird Park and the British Columbia Archives.
The First People’s exhibit at the Royal B.C. Museum includes an extensive collection of masks, poles and other artifacts from many of the areas Carr visited on her painting journeys. At Thunderbird Park, just outside the museum, are several replica poles, house posts, and grave figures, including replicas of two totem poles that appear in Carr's paintings.
For more in-depth research, the B.C. Archives have an extensive collection of Carr material, from paintings and preliminary sketches to pottery and family photographs. Researchers must make an appointment to see any of the original material here.
A noted collection of Carr's work can be found at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, which has a number of Emily Carr paintings, as well as drawings and several examples of her pottery.
The Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery at the University of Victoria also houses a number of Carr paintings. Curator Kerry Mason proves invaluable as an educator on Carr – teaching courses on the artist’s life and works for the History in Art Department of the University of Victoria and providing tours tracing Carr’s journeys to the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Much of Carr’s work was inspired by her travels to northwestern B.C. In 1907, 1912, and again in 1928, the artist visited several First Nations villages along B.C.'s coast, painting and sketching the totem poles, big houses and canoes of the Kwakwaka'wakw, Haida, and others.
By doing so, she captured – and inspired outside interest in – an art form and a way of life unique to the province.
Many of the First Nations villages she painted have since been abandoned; others now support thriving cultural centres where new work, largely influenced by traditional methods, is produced alongside carefully preserved artifacts.
Alert Bay, which Carr visited in 1908, is an example of the latter. Accessible by ferry from Port McNeill on Vancouver Island, the village is home to the U’mista Cultural Centre. Housed in a ceremonial Bighouse, the centre displays an extensive collection of Kwakwaka'wakw potlatch regalia. In July and August, First Nations youth groups perform traditional dances for visitors.
Also in the area is the village of Mimkwamlis on Village Island, at the mouth of Knight Inlet. Now abandoned, Mimkwamlis is known as the village of the last potlatch – a cornerstone of Kwakwaka'wakw culture outlawed by the federal government for much of the last century. Carr visited here and painted the totems and welcome figures, including her famous Welcoming Man.
Further up the coast is the isolated archipelago of Haida Gwaii, or the Queen Charlotte Islands, accessible by ferry from Prince Rupert. Carr visited, drew and painted many of the coastal villages here in 1912 and 1928.
The southern part of the archipelago, now largely encompassed by the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site, remains roadless and remote. Today's visitors will, like Carr, need to hire a guide and travel by boat or kayak to the village sites (today, one can even travel by floatplane). The best known, and one of the best remaining examples of a Haida village site, is SGang Gwaay, a UNESCO World Heritage site near the park's southern tip.
Easier to get to is the Haida Gwaii Museum at Qay'llnagaay, one kilometre from Skidegate. An excellent museum is already on site, and a complete cultural centre, the Haida Heritage Centre, with an expanded museum, is due to open in summer 2007.
In 1928, Carr travelled inland to villages along the Skeena and Nass Rivers in northwestern B.C., sketching and painting many of the area's intricately carved totems.
Today, you can follow the self-guided Hands of History Tour through more than 10 First Nations and pioneer communities, including Kitwancool, (now called Gitanyow), Kispiox, Gitwangak (Kitwanga) and Kitseguecla, home to over 40 standing totem poles, many of which appeared in Carr's works. Maps and brochures are available at the Visitor Centre in New Hazelton.
During the 1930s, Carr moved away from First Nations motifs and towards portraying her own interpretations of the natural world. Much of this later work was inspired by the landscape at Goldstream Flats, now part of Goldstream Provincial Park just north of Victoria. Carr spent many summer days here, living in a caravan and sketching the old growth forest.
A final stop on any Emily Carr pilgrimage is Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, where Carr, who died in 1945, is buried in the company of her family members and many other famous British Columbians.
For more on British Columbia’s destinations and travel information, call 1-800 HELLO BC (North America) or visit www.HelloBC.com.
CONTACTS
• The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria: 250/384-4101; www.aggv.bc.ca
• Emily Carr House: 250/383-5843; www.emilycarr.com(Open May 1 to Sept. 30, Off-season Group Tours or by appointment available)
• Goldstream Provincial Park: 250/478-9414: www.goldstreampark.com
• Haida Gwaii Museum at Qay'llnagaay: 250/559-4643; Queen Charlotte Islands, BC www.haidaheritagecentre.com
• Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve: 250/559-8818; www.parkscanada.gc.ca
• The Museum of Anthropology: 604/822-3825 or 604/822-5087, www.moa.ubc.ca
• Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery, University of Victoria: 250/721-6562, www.maltwood.uvic.ca
• Ross Bay Cemetery: 1594 Fairfield Road, Victoria. www.oldcem.bc.ca The Carr family plot is #85 E, and Emily’s grave is #85 E 15.
•The Royal British Columbia Museum and BC Archives: 888/447-7977; www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca
• U'mista Cultural Centre and Museum: 250-974-5403 or toll free 1-800-690-8222, www.umista.ca
•The Vancouver Art Gallery: 604/662-4719; www.vanartgallery.bc.ca
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