Emily Carr – (1871-1954) Canadian painter, writer Emily Carr was born in Victoria, British Columbia—about an 8-hour drive from Walla Walla. This photo shows how she looked in 1899, when she left Canada to study painting in San Francisco, CA. When Emily was growing up, her father owned a grocery store and her mother was often bedridden with tuberculosis. She began her first drawing lessons when she was 8. Emily’s father was a big part of her art lessons, he came to the New World as a Dagguerreotypes Photographer. Which was one of the first types of photography. After her parents had both died, Emily moved to San Francisco to study art. Later she continued her studies in England and France and then she came back to Victoria in 1911. Trees love to toss and sway; they make such happy noises.

X Victoria Walla Wallar Emily loved exploring the rainforests and northern islands of Canada. Victoria is on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, and Emily traveled all the way up to the Haida Gwaii (HAY-dah Gwhy – which means “Islands of the people”) islands, visiting old Native Canadian villages and sketching and painting the totem poles and buildings. X Victoria Walla Wallar

The weather and climate of Vancouver Island and the Haida Gwaii Islands, is very different from our weather here in Walla Walla. Typically, Walla Walla has 46 days with rain for a total of about 20 inches a year. On the West Coast of Vancouver Island, they average 206 days of rain and132 inches of rain! All this rain makes for very tall trees and thick, lush undergrowth as you can see in this picture. Have any of you ever been to a rainforest?

After her return from France in 1911, Emily made an ambitious six-week trip north to the Haifa Gaia Islands (approximately 1,100 miles) where she sketched and painted the houses, totem poles and masks of the indigenous (native) people . She wanted to capture the artwork before it disappeared. This painting is in her early style and is from the town of Tanoo on Haida Gwaii. (1913)

She became a very good painter, but didn’t feel like her watercolor paintings captured how big and grand the trees and totem poles were in real life. This is a 1912 painting of a Raven totem pole. From 1913 to 1927, she didn’t paint much. She raised sheepdogs, made pottery and taught art lessons. She heard about a “new art” in France that used bright colors and big brushstrokes to capture the feeling of a place, so she began to experiment with that post-Impressionist style called Fauve-ism (PHO-vism) - Fauve means “wild beast” in French. Do you remember learning about another Fauve artist? (Matisse)

What is different about this painting. How does it make you feel What is different about this painting? How does it make you feel? This work is from 1931 after returning from France. Carr’s work was ultimately discovered in 1927 by artist Lawren Harris, and other members of The Group Of Seven, then the leading art group in English-speaking Canada. Her work was included in a group show in 1927. Can you see the horizon line? How did Emily Carr use lines in this painting? This is Big Raven, 1931

What do you notice that is the same in these two pictures What do you notice that is the same in these two pictures? What do you notice that is different? Which one do you like better? Why?

What do you notice about this painting. Can you see a horizon line What do you notice about this painting? Can you see a horizon line? What is the weather like in this painting? Do you notice lines in this painting? What is different about the lines in the sky versus the lines she used for the tree trunks? Does it look like anything is moving in this painting? Trees in A Swirling Sky (1939)

What do you notice about this painting? What kind of tree might this be? Why do you think we can only see a part of the tree and not all of it? Do you see a horizon line? The Red Cedar (1931-33)

Is there a horizon line in this painting. Why not Is there a horizon line in this painting? Why not? What do you notice about how she painted the trees? Can you see individual leaves or needles? Why not?

What do you see in this painting What do you see in this painting? If you were to place yourself in the point of view of the artist, where would you be? (This is called the perspective of the painting) Where is the horizon line in this painting? How does this painting make you feel? Above the Trees (1939) Oil on paper