Emily Carr was born in Victoria, British Columbia and studied art in San Francisco, London and Paris. She was a creative person with natural artistic talent. Emily was a great painter who also loved to write and make pottery. Her magnificent, bright, colourful nature paintings paved the way for her becoming a Canadian icon.
Most of her inspirations came from nature, sea and First Nations of the West Coast. It was her trip to Alaska that made her take an interest in environmental issues. In the Odds and Ends painting, we can take notice of what is left of the wilderness that she admired and tried to preserve by painting.
In 1920, she joined the Group of Seven, which was a group of Canadian landscape painters traveling elsewhere in Canada for inspiration while portraying Canada's wilderness in colourful paintings. This was a turning point in her artistic career. She began to paint about Indigenous culture and the rainforest in BC. Her distinguished work was greatly admired and made her one of the most prominent Canadian artists of the 20th century. One of her most famous works, The Raven, was featured on a postage stamp honouring the century of her birth.
Emily Carr's artwork and legacy are well known in Canada and around the world. We are honoured and proud as a school to be named after one of the most prominent Canadian artists.