It is a lifelong dream come true for Brackendale Art Gallery owner Thor Froslev.
Ever since Froslev first saw the works of artist Emily Carr over five decades ago, he has wanted to showcase her at his gallery.
This month his dream becomes a reality.
Carr is the feature artist throughout June at the BAG.
The iconic artist is Froslev’s favourite painter of all time, he said, in part because her works reflect the majestic beauty of Western Canada as Froslev saw it went he first moved here.
Froslev arrived in Halifax from Denmark in 1957 and took the train across the country.
“I got to the foothills of Alberta and I was looking forward to seeing the Rocky Mountains,” he recalled recently. He was disappointed to learn he would pass through it in the dark. “But luckily, it was a moonlit night and it was gorgeous, beyond the beyond.”
Once in Vancouver, Froslev visited the Vancouver Art Gallery.
“Lo and behold, there was Emily Carr… I saw her works of the Rockies and I have been an Emily Carr fan ever since,” he said.
In addition to the month-long June show, on Wednesday, June, 14, the BAG is also presenting “Emily Carr Slept Here,” a media presentation on the famous B.C. artist that will feature local historian Eric Andersen with guest readers, including historian and former teacher Ellen Grant.
According to Grant, Carr came to Brackendale often during the 1920s and 1930s to visit her relatives in the Rae and English families. Always eccentric, Carr was noticed by locals when she came to town.
Grant is the granddaughter of Squamish homesteaders Anne and Harry Judd. She recalls her grandfather being quite shocked at what he saw as Carr’s outrageous demeanor and behaviour.
“Arriving with her menagerie of dogs, cats, a parrot and a monkey and a box of painting supplies,” said Grant in a write-up she published about Carr for the BAG.
”Seated on a three-legged stool, she would sketch the forested landscape.”
Carr was intriguing for many of the young Squamish girls and women who got to meet her or learned about her.
“She was avant-garde,” Grant told The Chief when asked for her own feelings about Carr’s work. “She brought in the modern ideas and she is very like the Group of Seven.”
In 1933, Carr came to Brackendale and then travelled by train to Lillooet.
Also a writer, Carr kept a journal recounting her travels.
“Her journal of the trip explains why she seldom included the majestic peaks in her works. She found it difficult to capture their strength,” said Grant. “Instead she relied on totems and towering evergreens to give vertical movement to her projects.”
The presentation on Carr’s time in Brackendale is taking place at June 14 at 7 p.m. Admission is by donation. For more information, go to the Brackendale Art Gallery’s Facebook page.
