emily carr

indian house interior with totems
1912-1913

vanquished
1930

a woman i look up to is emily carr. i'm not sure how well known she is outside of canada, but i find her truly amazing. born and raised in victoria, british columbia, emily carr never married and followed her passion - painting - and it she would travel great distances throughout her life to enrich her skills to capture that which she wished to express through the medium of paint.
the forests and first nations people of the west coast inspired her throughout her life. she sought to convey the feeling of a scene, and became a student of the impressionist movement then occurrence in france. emily travelled to france and spent some years there to learn the technique, but then returned to her native victoria, travelling up and down the pacific coast visiting first nations villages and painting.

kispiox village
1912

to me, contemplating one of emily's paintings is like sensing what it is to stand amongst ancient trees, the crashing of ocean waves audible yet dulled through the dark and thick carpeting of the tropical forest. i can hear children laughing in a village belonging to seaside cultures richer and older than the thousand year old trees. dogs barking and the smell of damp cedar and woodsmoke on the salty sea breeze. the echo of a raven through dripping leaves.

skidegate

1928

arbutus tree
1922

kispiox village
1929

in an age where racism and sexism could have easily halted emily's endeavours, she never wavered and pushed to capture the essence of that which she witnessed on canvas. her pieces have contributed to the enrichment of canadian identity.

old time coast village
~1929-1930

tree trunk
1931

emily carr
1871-1945
artist, author, woman, visionary, lover of animals

*i had trouble limiting the number of examples of her work, for more, please visit the Vancouver Art Gallery website*