pressure to assimilate, or their traditional hunting and fishing practices had been disrupted, or the populations had died from the newly introduced diseases like smallpox and measles. The irony that some of the newcomers were trying to preserve the poles while others worked actively to destroy the culture that created them was lost on many people.
Emily might not have been aware of the political and cultural complexity of the situation, but she did see thechanges taking place. As an artist, she was deeply affected by the power of the poles, and if only for that reason she felt compelled to make others aware of them, too. It was also through the totem poles that Emily found her identity as an artist, and through them she would find purpose and meaning in her life.
The argillite sculpture I have on my desk, although removed from its true meaning and context, still resonates not only with personal memories but also with deeper meanings that stretch back through time and connect me to Emily Carr, and then further back to the First Peoples who created the original totem poles, and through them even further into the great mystery that is life.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
In the Wilderness
There are fallow periods in every creative personâs life, when they lose faith in their endeavours and it seems as if all their efforts have come to nothing. The composer Richard Wagner went into exile for years and then emerged with the stunning Ring Cycle operas. After a lost election Winston Churchill retreated into political silence, a period he called âthe wilderness years,â before coming back to lead his country through the Second World War. Even the tremendously prolific Picasso was inactive for a couple of years, turning away from painting to take up poetry and playwriting instead. Adversity can silence the creative impulse, but the flame is never extinguished.
After 1913, Emilyâs grand project to record the Native totem poles for posterity had been abandoned. The exhibition of her French works had met with indifference and hostility and she was unable to resume her teaching positions in Vancouver. She retreated to Victoria, discouraged and depressed.
Meanwhile, there was a growing threat of war in Europe while, at home, an economic depression resulted in higher property taxes, unemployment, and inflation. The Carr family funds had shrunk over the years and the sisters were forced to sell off some of their land. The family home was rented out and the sisters built other accommodation for themselves. Emily had a house constructed next to Beacon Hill Park, with the idea of renting out part of it while setting aside a studio and apartment for herself. But long-term tenants were hard to come by in those unsettled years, so she took in boarders instead. The studio became a sitting-dining room for tenants and Emily made do with rooms in the attic for herself.
Two myths have arisen about this period in Emilyâs life: first, that she lived in dire poverty, and second, that she gave up painting entirely. Both are only partly true.
Although Emily owned land and the house, she had no regular income other than the rent she collected. Consequently, she took on the management of the boarding house herself. She did the repairs and maintenance, the finances, the cooking, and the washing. She even stoked the furnace with coal and shovelled snow in winter. She planted a vegetable and fruit garden and raised rabbits and chickens, both for the pot and for sale.
During this period, she also spent some months in San Francisco painting decorations for a ballroom. She raisedsheepdogs for sale. She made pottery and rugs to sell, and when times became very lean, sold off part of the lot on which the house stood.
Elsewhere in the world, the war in Europe ground on for four long years; a revolution in Russia overthrew the czar; women in Canada were given the vote, grudgingly, province by province; the CBC commenced national radio broadcasts;
Emily might not have been aware of the political and cultural complexity of the situation, but she did see thechanges taking place. As an artist, she was deeply affected by the power of the poles, and if only for that reason she felt compelled to make others aware of them, too. It was also through the totem poles that Emily found her identity as an artist, and through them she would find purpose and meaning in her life.
The argillite sculpture I have on my desk, although removed from its true meaning and context, still resonates not only with personal memories but also with deeper meanings that stretch back through time and connect me to Emily Carr, and then further back to the First Peoples who created the original totem poles, and through them even further into the great mystery that is life.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
In the Wilderness
There are fallow periods in every creative personâs life, when they lose faith in their endeavours and it seems as if all their efforts have come to nothing. The composer Richard Wagner went into exile for years and then emerged with the stunning Ring Cycle operas. After a lost election Winston Churchill retreated into political silence, a period he called âthe wilderness years,â before coming back to lead his country through the Second World War. Even the tremendously prolific Picasso was inactive for a couple of years, turning away from painting to take up poetry and playwriting instead. Adversity can silence the creative impulse, but the flame is never extinguished.
After 1913, Emilyâs grand project to record the Native totem poles for posterity had been abandoned. The exhibition of her French works had met with indifference and hostility and she was unable to resume her teaching positions in Vancouver. She retreated to Victoria, discouraged and depressed.
Meanwhile, there was a growing threat of war in Europe while, at home, an economic depression resulted in higher property taxes, unemployment, and inflation. The Carr family funds had shrunk over the years and the sisters were forced to sell off some of their land. The family home was rented out and the sisters built other accommodation for themselves. Emily had a house constructed next to Beacon Hill Park, with the idea of renting out part of it while setting aside a studio and apartment for herself. But long-term tenants were hard to come by in those unsettled years, so she took in boarders instead. The studio became a sitting-dining room for tenants and Emily made do with rooms in the attic for herself.
Two myths have arisen about this period in Emilyâs life: first, that she lived in dire poverty, and second, that she gave up painting entirely. Both are only partly true.
Although Emily owned land and the house, she had no regular income other than the rent she collected. Consequently, she took on the management of the boarding house herself. She did the repairs and maintenance, the finances, the cooking, and the washing. She even stoked the furnace with coal and shovelled snow in winter. She planted a vegetable and fruit garden and raised rabbits and chickens, both for the pot and for sale.
During this period, she also spent some months in San Francisco painting decorations for a ballroom. She raisedsheepdogs for sale. She made pottery and rugs to sell, and when times became very lean, sold off part of the lot on which the house stood.
Elsewhere in the world, the war in Europe ground on for four long years; a revolution in Russia overthrew the czar; women in Canada were given the vote, grudgingly, province by province; the CBC commenced national radio broadcasts;
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