PLACES OF INTEREST TO EMILY CARR LOVERS

Emily Carr House
Beautifully renovated and open to the public, this is the house where Emily was born and where her sisters continued to live while she was in Vancouver and Europe, and later when she lived in her nearby apartment house. Numerous family artifacts are displayed in her bedroom, and eighteen original Carr works are exhibited. Open mid-May to mid-October.
207 Government St. Victoria, B.C. V8V 2K3
(250) 383-5843
If you're unable to visit in person, take a virtual tour of the house and grounds, accompanied by Emily's own words.

House of All Sorts
Emily Carr's apartment and boarding house from 1913 to 1916, The House of All Sorts is currently a private residence, not open to visitors, but you can visit it virtually, including the Eagles in the attic.

Beacon Hill Park

At the foot of Douglas Street and west of Cook Street just south of downtown Victoria lies the 200-acre Beacon Hill Park, a beloved haunt of Emily Carr, a place instrumental in shaping her early love for nature, particularly trees and birds.

Photo courtesy of Julie B. Andersen Photography

In her journal, Hundreds and Thousands, she wrote: "Dear Mother Earth! I think I have always specially belonged to you. I have loved from babyhood to roll upon you, to lie with my face pressed right down on to you in my sorrows. I love the look of you and the smell of you and the feel of you."* And this recollection of her childhood spent in the Park: "I can remember when the park was full of woods and wild flowers, and owls hooted and there were lady-slippers and wild lilies and the lakes were swampy pools with thick scraggly growth 'round and in them."**

Varieties of trees native to Beacon Hill Park are Garry oak, arbutus, Douglas-fir, red cedar, and maple. Birds nesting here or passing on annual migrations are bald eagles, herons, Canada geese and peacocks. Emily's favorite parts of the Park were the virgin stands of fir and the overlook onto the Strait of Juan de Fuca. She would certainly have known of the petroglyphs and clamsell middens of aboriginal dwellers of this tract of land inhabited as early as 14,000 years ago. The world's tallest free-standing totem pole (128 feet), created by Kwakwaka'wakw carver Mungo Martin in 1956 is here in the Park.

Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia
A museum designed to house monumental totem poles must be grand indeed, as this is.

Haida Pole Fragments, Great Hall, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver. Photo: Bill McLennan.

Here is a fabulous collection of First Nations material including totem poles, feast dishes, basketry, tools, bent wood boxes, masks--all beautifully displayed in a purpose-built museum using traditional Northwest Coast post and beam construction. Fifteen-meter-high windows take the eye outdoors to two Haida Big Houses, ten full-scale Haida, Gitksan, and Nisga'a poles, two carved house posts and two contemporary welcome figures, all overlooking the sea.

Haida Houses and Outdoor Poles, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver. Photo: Bill McLennan.

The museum's entire collection, vast though it is, is available for perusal. Some actual totems Carr painted are here, including Totem Mother, Kitwancool. A nine-foot Dzunukwa feast dish similar to what appears in The Forest Lover is a particularly startling piece.

Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia
6393 N.W.Marine Drive Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2
Recorded message (24 hr) 604-822-3825 Telephone (M-F) 604-822-5087

Ross Bay Cemetery
1594 Fairfield Road. Victoria
The Carr family plot is #85 E, and Emily's grave is #85 E 15.

St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church, Squamish Mission Reserve, North Vancouver

424 West Esplanade, North Vancouver
The first chapel was built around 1866 by French Oblate missionaries, replaced in 1884 by the Church of the Sacred Heart which Sophie attended, and enlarged in 1909 in Gothic Revival style suggestive of the churches of French-Canada and France. Renamed St. Paul's at that time, it is the oldest surviving mission church in the Vancouver area. The twin spires once served as a landmark guiding ships entering Vancouver Harbor.

The U'mista Cultural Centre strives to ensure the continued survival of the unique cultural heritage of the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations in and around Alert Bay on the British Columbia Coast. The opening of the U'mista Cultural Centre in 1980 marked the return of the artifacts taken during the potlatch prohibition which are now being exhibited to record the cultural, artistic, and historical value to the Kwakwaka'wakw, or the Kwak'wala speaking people.
An extensive Potlatch Collection can be viewed in their Big House Gallery and on line. The site gives the historical context for the potlatch tradition, and a wonderful array of masks. U'mista Cultural Centre is reached by ferry from Port McNeill on Vancouver Island.
P.O. Box 253 Alert Bay, British Columbia V0N 1A0
Tel: (250) 974-5403 Fax: (250) 974-5499 Toll Free: 800 690-8222

First Nations Villages in British Columbia

Emily painted in thirty Native villages. See her work set against historic photographs from an exhibiton "To the Totem Forests: Emily Carr and Contemporaries Interpret Coastal Villages." This site includes her own commentary.
Totem poles are still visible in villages such as Kitwanga and Kitwancoool up the Skeena River. At the 'Ksan Native Village and Museum in Hazelton, carvers continue to produce traditional poles.

Located on Village Island, at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band of the Kwakwaka'wakw people have inhabited this site for centuries. Here Emily came to polatches, and painted the village and its welcome figures many times. The island, which was the setting for Chapter Twenty-two of The Forest Lover, is all but deserted now, except for its Native guardian, Thomas Sewid, who keeps watch over its remaining totems. Through his efforts at sharing his culture and history, and by bringing people to Mimkwamlis, they come to understand the rich heritage that this coastline gave rise to.

Village Island Native Cultural Tours. 250-282-3338

Sitka National Monument, Alaska
This government-sponsored collection of sixteen Tlingit and Haida poles marks Emily's introduction to totem poles, as recorded in Chapter Ten of The Forest Lover. Click here to see her watercolor, Totem Walk, Sitka. Another site gives Emily's own comments about meeting Ted Richardson there.

Thunderbird Park, Victoria

Adjacent to the Royal BC Museum at the corner of Douglas and Belleville Streets is a small park which began to preserve and erect totem poles in 1944, one year before Emily died. Now there are thirteen poles, house posts and grave figures along with a recreated ceremonial Big House erected in 1954, and a carving studio.

Some portion of the peninsula of Stanley Park in Vancouver still remains old-growth forest. Even more remarkable now, right up against a large city, that cathedral quietness of the Park's forested interior which was so moving to Emily still pervades. Near Brockton Oval and the seawall, eight totem poles invite visitors into the Park. One is a particularly unusual squatting Dzunukwa.

Photos of Stanley Park totems courtesy of Maurice Jassek.

Goldstream Provincial Park
"The Goldstream Flats are a narrow lowness where Goldstream babbles its way out to the Saanich inlet on Finlayson Arm," wrote Carr. "The sun gets no look-in for several hours after rising and winks a goodbye to us long before he has finished his daily round...The woods were in [a] quiet mood, dreamy and sweet. No great contrasts of light and dark but full of quiet glowing light and fresh from the recent rain, and the growth full, steady and ascending."***

Eighteen kilometers from downtown Victoria, Goldstream, now a Provincial Park, was the refuge of Emily Carr in her caravan, the old-growth temperate rain forest where she developed her mature work, painting forests without Native motifs. Most of Emily's beloved trees are here--western red cedar, Douglas fir, western yew, red alder, broad leaf maple, western hemlock, arbutus, and black cottonwood, as well as the moss and birds she loved.

Queen Charlotte Islands

Of Skedans on the Queen Charlotte Islands, Carr wrote: "No matter how drunken their tilt, the Haida poles never lost their dignity. They looked sadder, perhaps, when they bowed forward and more stern when they tipped back. They were bleached to a pinkish silver colour and cracked by the sun, but nothing could make them mean or poor, because the Indians had put strong thought into them and had believed sincerely in what they were trying to express."****

Various outfitters take visitors to Haida village sites aboard sailing craft leaving from Skidegate, as Emily did. Particularly notable is the village of Ninstiints at the southernmost tip of the archipelago, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site with two dozen poles, erect, leaning and fallen. They would have thrilled Emily had she been able to see them. Walking in a rain forest there, one can understand the awe she felt at the density of growth and the exquisite beauty of life forms native to the islands.

Duncan

Known as the City of Totems, Duncan, north of Victoria on Trans-Canada Highway 1, has a strong First Nations history and contemporary culture. Forty-one totem poles set around the town and representing several styles are linked by a self-guided tour. At the Native Heritage Centre, contemporary carvers work and interact with visitors; and theatrical presentations, and a feast and legends evening are given.

ART GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS

These are given roughly in descending order from the museum which houses the largest number of Emily Carr works on display to the smallest number. Even though you may not be visiting these cities, some of these museums have virtual galleries on line by which you can view Carr's paintings.

Vancouver Art Gallery
Vancouver Art Gallery occupies an entire city block, and the permanent Emily Carr Collection occupies an entire floor, housing an enormous collection of Carr's paintings, approximately 200 works. The ongoing exhibition, "Emily Carr: Art, Place, Culture," is directly in line with the themes of The Forest Lover. According to the VAG website, the exhibition "sheds light on who Emily Carr was, how her career developed and the legacy she left behind, as well as offering a fresh look at her profound relationship with the land and her impact on the identification of BC with its landscape. The exhibition also contextualizes Carr's interest in aboriginal cultures. Carr's special connection with the land and people of this region can be seen in her choice of subjects and painting techniques, and the body of work as a whole reveals both a unique spiritualism and a bold, unusual interpretation of the artistic ideas of the time."
750 Hornby Street, between Georgia and Robson Streets, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H7.
24-hour Infoline: 604.662.4719
Administration: 604.662.4700

Royal British Columbia Museum and BC Archives
The Museum showcases in dramatic, walk-through displays the human, cultural, and natural history of British Columbia, while the BC Archives houses an extensive collection of Carr paintings, mostly from the early phase of her career, many preliminary sketches done in native villages and forests, as well as pottery and hooked rugs--more than 800 items.
The BC Archives has a large collection of photographs of Emily, her family, pets, and studios. A replica of the Crying Totem of Tanu stands in the courtyard of the Royal BC Museum.
675 Belleville Street, Victoria, British Columbia CANADA V8W 9W2
(250)356-RBCM (7226)
Toll Free: 1-888-447-7977

National Gallery of Canada
More than fifty works by Emily Carr are in the permanent collection, including the first painting of Cumshewa's Raven, a watercolor; and Carr's Self-Portrait.
380 Sussex Drive Box 427, Station A
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 9N4
Telephone (613) 990-1985
Fax (613) 993-4385
Outside the National Capital Region 1-800-319-2787

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
The Gallery has twenty-eight Carr paintings in their permanent collection, plus additional works on a rotational basis. Eight of Carr's pottery pieces are here too. The gallery is housed in a combination of contemporary exhibition spaces and the nineteenth century mansion, Gyppeswick.
1040 Moss Street
Victoria, British Columbia Canada V8V 4P1
Programs/Information 250-384-4101

Dominion Gallery

Art collector and dealer Max Stern owned a great many of Carr's paintings, including some of her French work. The current status of the collection is always changing.
1438 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 1K4

McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Some fifty miles northwest of Toronto, the McMichael houses a stunning array of works by the Group of Seven, as well as many Carr paintings.
10365 Islington Avenue
Kleinburg, Ontario, L0J 1C0, Canada
local phone: (905) 893-1121, or toll free: 1-888-213-1121,
(905) 893-0692

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Telephone: (514) 285-1600
Information: (514) 285-2000
Fax: (514) 844-6042
Hornstein and Stewart Pavilions 1379 Sherbrooke Street West
Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion 1380 Sherbrooke Street West
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 3000, Station "H"
Montreal, Quebec H3G 2T9

Art Gallery of Ontario
If you're looking for Guyasdoms D'Sonoqua (Dzunukwa in the novel), you'll find her here in all her weird, naked glory.
317 Dunlas Street West, Toronto
Phone: 416-979-6648.

Glenbow Museum
This museum owns thirteen of Carr's paitings.
130 - 9th Avenue S.E. Calgary, Alberta Canada T2G 0P3
(403) 268-4100

Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery, University of Victoria
There are five paintings by Carr here.
The Maltwood Gallery is located on the main floor of the University Centre on UVic's campus,

Edmonton Art Gallery

Three works by Carr are in the permanent collection.
2 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5J 2C1
Phone: 780.422.6223 Fax: 780.426.3105

Art Gallery of Hamilton

This museum has one painting, Sunshine and Tumult.
123 King St. West
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8P 4S8
Phone: 905-527-6610
Fax: 905-577-6940

Seattle Art Museum
Considered as having one of the finest collections of Northwest Coast Native American art in the world, the Museum owns 200 historic Native American masks, sculpture, textiles, and decorative and household objects from the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and Alaska, as well as contemporary Northwest Coast arts.
100 University Street
Seattle, WA 98101-2902
(206) 654-3100

In addition to the museums above, desktop travelers can access Carr's paintings through the following sites:

Emily Carr at Home and at Work provides access to extensive image banks of her paintings, family photos, and a tour of her house.

Virtual Museum Canada is a collection of 262 Carr paintings from many museums and galleries.

To the Totem Forests: Emily Carr and Contemporaries Interpret Coastal Villages is an exhibit which shows Carr's paintings of totem poles and villages alongside period photographs of the sites.

*       Carr, Emily, Hundreds and Thousands: The Journals of Emily Carr. Toronto/Vancouver: Clarke, Irwin and Company, 1966, p. 101.

**     Ibid., p. 211.

***   Ibid., page unknown.

**** Carr, Emily. Klee Wyck. Toronto/Vancouver: Clarke, Irwin and Company, 1941.