Klee Wyck (1941) is a memoir by Canadian artist Emily Carr. Through short sketches, the artist tells of her experiences among First Nations people and cultures on British Columbia's west coast. The book won the 1941 Governor General's Award and occupies an important place in Canadian literature. [1]
Emily Carr (1871 - 1945) is one of western Canada's most well-known artists. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, she painted themes from nature, as well as imagery from the cultures of west coast First Nations. [2] In her late sixties, Carr turned to writing. After Klee Wyck, she published six additional collections of autobiographical sketches. [1]
Carr was an avid traveller, and explored much of the west coast of British Columbia in her lifetime. She related some of her experiences on western Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, and on the Skeena and Nass Rivers in this first book. Other essays relate to her time living in Vancouver, where she worked as a painter and art teacher. [2]
In 1937, Carr suffered a heart attack. After this, she turned away from painting and began a prolific period of memoir writing. Much of Klee Wyck was composed as she recovered in bed. [1] The original, unpublished title for the book was Stories in Cedar. Carr instead chose Klee Wyck, a nickname given to her by the First Nations people of Ucluelet. It means "Laughing One". [2]
Originally published by the Oxford University Press' Toronto division in 1941, the book was abridged by 2,300 words for the 1951 Clarke, Irwin & Company edition. Removed were several passages critical of the actions of European missionaries, as well as an account of a mixed race family. This version was the basis for all editions of the book until Douglas & McIntyre's 2004 edition restored the text. [3] The original edition also featured four colour plates of Carr's paintings, including a portrait of Sophie Frank. The original foreword was by Ira Dilworth. [3] A French translation was published in 1973. [4]
Joy Nozomi Kogawa is a Canadian poet and novelist of Japanese descent.
Emily Carr was a Canadian artist who was inspired by the monumental art and villages of the First Nations and the landscapes of British Columbia. She also was a vivid writer and chronicler of life in her surroundings, praised for her "complete candour" and "strong prose". Klee Wyck, her first book, published in 1941, won the Governor General's Literary Award for non-fiction and this book and others written by her or compiled from her writings later are still much in demand today.
Sophia Theresa "Sophie" Pemberton was a Canadian painter who was British Columbia's first professional woman artist. Despite the social limitations placed on female artists at the time, she made a noteworthy contribution to Canadian art and, in 1899, was the first woman to win the Prix Julian from the Académie Julian for portraiture. Pemberton also was the first artist from British Columbia to receive international acclaim when her work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London (1897).
Lisa Robertson is a Canadian poet, essayist and translator. She lives in France.
Edward John Hughes was a Canadian painter, known for his images of the land and sea in British Columbia.
Heather Spears was a Canadian-born poet, novelist, artist, sculptor, and educator. She resided in Denmark from 1962 until her death in Copenhagen in 2021. She returned to Canada annually to conduct speaking and reading tours and to teach drawing and head-sculpting workshops. She published eleven collections of poetry, five novels, and three volumes of drawings. She specialized in drawing premature infants and "infants in crisis".
Amelia Alcock-White is a Canadian artist based in Vancouver.
Unity Bainbridge was a Canadian artist and writer of poetry inspired by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and its landscape.
Mildred Valley Thornton was a Canadian artist most well known for her portraits of First Nations people. She also painted landscapes in oil and watercolour. Her paintings were usually done in vivid colours. Born in Ontario, she moved to Regina in 1913, and began painting Indigenous portraits fifteen years later. Her portraits were completed quickly, usually under one hour. In 1934, she relocated to British Columbia, and continued to paint individuals of that province's aboriginal population, eventually amassing nearly 300 portraits. Thornton was a tireless lecturer and advocate of Indigenous and women's rights. While lecturing, she often appeared dressed in buckskin, and played Indigenous songs that she had recorded. Besides being an author and art critic, she was involved in numerous literary and artistic associations. She hoped to sell her portrait collection to the Government of Canada, and when this wasn't forthcoming, decreed in her will that it be burned. The portraits narrowly escaped that fate due to a technicality. While popular in her lifetime, Thornton was neglected for some time afterwards. A biography of her by Sheryl Salloum was published in 2011. There has been mixed reactions to her work and persona among First Nations peoples, with some collecting portraits of their ancestors and others regarding Thornton through the lens of cultural appropriation.
Maria W. Tippett D.C.L. LL. D. DLitt is a Canadian historian specialising in Canadian art history. Her 1979 biography of Emily Carr won the Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction.
Clarke, Irwin & Company was a Canadian publishing house based in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1930, it was purchased by Thomas Nelson Publishing in 2002. The company published works by prominent Canadian authors, artists, and poets, including Robertson Davies, Emily Carr, A.Y. Jackson, Adele Wiseman, Timothy Findley, and Alden Nowlan. The company was also known as a producer of educational works and textbooks.
Lillian Irene Hoffar Reid was a Canadian painter. She was in the first graduating class, June 1929, at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Art. She taught at the Vancouver School of Art from 1933 to 1937.
Marianne Nicolson is a Dzawada’enuxw visual artist whose work explores the margins at which public access to First Nations artifacts clashes with the preservation of indigenous cultural knowledge. She utilizes painting, photography, mixed-media, sculpture, and installation to create modern depictions of traditional Kwakwaka’wakw beliefs, and has exhibited in Canada and throughout the world since 1992.
Mary Annora Brown L.L. D. (1899–1987), known as Annora Brown, was a Canadian visual artist whose work encompassed painting and graphic design. She was best known for her depictions of natural landscapes, wildflowers, and First Nations communities in Canada. Much of her work thematically explored Albertan identity, though she remained relatively obscure in discussions of Canadian art.
Lilias Marianne Ar de Soif Farley was a Canadian painter, sculptor, designer, and muralist in realism and abstraction. In 1967, she was awarded the Centennial Medal for Service to the Nation in the Arts. She was an alumna of the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts and was a member of the school's first graduating class.
Cecily Nicholson is a Canadian poet, arts administrator, independent curator, and activist. Originally from Ontario, she is now based in British Columbia. As a writer and a poet, Nicholson has published collections of poetry, contributed to collected literary works, presented public lectures and readings, and collaborated with numerous community organizations. As an arts administrator, she has worked at the Surrey Art Gallery in Surrey, British Columbia, and the artist-run centre Gallery Gachet in Vancouver.
Nan Lawson Cheney (1897–1985) was a Canadian painter and medical artist.
Tiziana La Melia was born in 1982 in the city of Palermo, Italy. She is currently based in Vancouver, British Columbia, as a practising artist, writer, painter, and poet. She works within the mediums and intersections of poetry, writing, text, painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, collage, performance, and video work. Her oeuvre thematically and conceptually focuses on the intertwining thoughts she has about female archetypes, the feminine unconscious, auto-fiction, passion, and desire.
Doris Shadbolt, née Meisel LL. D. D.F.A. was an art historian, author, curator, cultural bureaucrat, educator and philanthropist who had an important impact on the development of Canadian art and culture.
Kathryn Bridge is a Canadian writer, curator, archivist and historian who lives in Victoria, B.C. In 1978, she began to work at the British Columbia Archives where from 2012 to 2015 she was a Deputy Director. In 2017, she retired and was honoured as Curator Emerita.