Maybe I am biased but I have to say our country is not only beautiful but also a wonderful place to live! With such diversity in landscapes, from the rocky Eastern shores, to the icy Northern tundra, the broad Prairies with their big blue skies, the mysterious foggy inlets of the West coast and everything in between, there is certainly something to suit everyone. There is so much to be proud of when considering Canadian history and the many great people, feats and inventions that originate here. Of course this includes an innumerable amount of artists, but since this is Papergirl Vancouver and an artsy Monday, I have decided to briefly profile one artist distinctly associated with the West Coast; Emily Carr.
Emily Carr was a modernist artist born in Victoria in 1871. She is best known for her beautiful oil or watercolour landscapes and her love of First Nations art and culture. Determined to record and exhibit the artwork of peoples indigenous to the North West coast, lest it fade into nothingness, she painted and sketched much of what she saw during visits to First Nations villages. Using her classical training in painting as well as drawing inspiration from travels to the rapidly changing art scene in France, Carr was able to reproduce and chronicle an artistic tradition from thousands of years previous while also bringing it into the contemporary art discourse. Though her style went through many shifts throughout her life, she always remained rooted to the Canadian soil and its almost mythological beauty. Like the Group of Seven, who counted her as a pseudo member, Emily Carr was and is among the most outstanding Canadian artists ever to capture the spirit of this great country.
As a side note, if you are looking for fireworks in Vancouver tonight and haven’t been down to check out Canada Day at Canada Place yet, you still have time to catch them as they are scheduled for 10:30pm in the Burrard Inlet.
Again, I want to say Happy 146th Canada, here’s lookin’ at you kid.
-al