Emily Carr

Replica of the Victoria Emily Carr statue

Each month the kids and I focus on a new big subject to study- have I mentioned how much I adore homeschooling? We all learn together- it is something I cherish and hope that we can continue.

This month we decided to focus on art, both applications and history. This month we have researched the life and art of Emily Carr, one of Canada's most beloved artists. Emily was from Victoria, BC and was a woman ahead of her time. She loved spending time in nature as well as with the indeginous people and a majority of her work either focuses on the beautiful West Coast forests or the West Coast Native peoples. She was not accepted initially but he public though, many frowned upon her, a single woman who paraded around with her many pets (dogs, cats, birds, a rat and a monkey!) filled with early feminism ideals who disagreed with the way European settlement was affecting the Native tribes. She was also the first woman in Victoria to ride a horse with split legs, rather than sidesaddle!

Emily Carr featured with one of her painting

Emily's childhood home in Victoria, BC

Her writings, rather than her paintings, is what intially made her famous. The CBC featured many of her stories on the radio and the public wanted to hear more. Klee Wyck, a collection of stories Emily wrote about her time spent with the Native tribes was published and became required reading for all BC students. Unfortunatley, it was not published in its entirty. At that time the BC government was removing all Native children from their tribes and sending them to residential schools. The purpose of removing them from their culture was to groom these children into a European (white) and "accepted" way of life. Emily was disgusted by this and voiced this opinion in her writing and any text pertaining to this was removed. It was not until much later that the book was published in its original entirety.  

Ross Bay Cemetary in Victoria, BC

Emily died in 1945 and is buried in the historical Ross Bay Cemetery.Her grave is simple, just a stone and visitors leave paintbrushes and other art mementos. There is a small beautiful monument built in her memory highlighting one of the things that Emily loved best, nature.

A beautiful yet humble monument featuring Emily's words

The kids loved visiting Emily Carr's childhood house in Victoria. They enjoyed viewing her art in the Art Museum. We have plans to visit the BC Museum as well which is featuring a huge Emily Carr exhibit. Aidan, Mia and I are reading "Emily Carr's Woo" and "Emily and Her Dogs", books featuring Emily and her many pets. Brandon is reading her autobiography and I picked up a copy of the beautiful Klee Wyck. We have also watched a documentary about her life and also hope to visit the Vancouver Art Museum, which features the largest collection of Emily Carr's work. This has been our family's favourite subject by far!

Chemainus, BC