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CTV.CA
The Canadian Press
Sunday Apr. 25, 2010 9:25 AM ET
VANCOUVER - A Boy Scout diary, a hand-painted Christmas card and an uncashed cheque have revealed the eccentricities and the humour of Emily Carr, one of Canada's most beloved artists.
The items, locked away in a red lacquered box, have made tangible some of the stories Peter Rodd's father once told about Carr's sometimes strange behaviour and her menagerie of animals.
Rodd's father Cyril -- also know as Twinkie -- did odd jobs for Carr when he was teenager, including chopping wood, mowing the lawn and walking the animals.
"He used to tell us the story about walking the dog and the monkey together. So he tied them together and then they'd run along and when the monkey got tired it would take a turn around the lamp post and rest up," Rodd laughed, as he retold his father's story.
Twinkie, who got his name from the twinkle in his eye, died in 1971 at the age of 61 and Rodd's mother died this past November.
After his mother's death, Rodd said his family discovered his father's keepsakes in the red box.
Along with two pieces of pottery made by Carr was a hand-painted Christmas card from her and a 1927 uncashed cheque written from Carr to Twinkie for $2.50.
The family took their find to the Heffel Fine Art Auction House, which has a reputation for selling Carr art.
The auction's president David Heffel said the discoveries open a window to the life and financial struggles Carr would have had during what is called her lean years between 1917 and the late 1920s.
Carr ran a boarding house, was breeding dogs, made pottery and hooked rugs to survive. She also stopped painting.
"She was having difficulty making ends meet and he was probably sensitive to that," Heffel said of Twinkie.
A cheque for $2.50 would have been a lot of money for a teenager at a time when a haircut cost 25 cents.
Rodd agreed that his father had sympathy for Carr's financial situation.
"I think that's why my father never cashed the cheque because he felt she was poor. I don't think he had any foresight about her becoming as famous as she has."
Nor was Twinkie's Boy Scout diary written with a view to recounting his relationship with Carr -- Rodd said his dad kept a diary all his life, so Rodd wasn't surprised to see the information.
In one part of the diary, Twinkie draws a picture of the so-called parrot perch Carr gave to him. The pottery was actually the base of a lamp stand, one of many she made and signed Klee Wyck.
Klee Wyck was a name given to her by First Nations and it means "The Laughing One."
Heffel said he can understand a young teen's fascination with the woman who attracted so many characters in her life.
"It would have been a comedy act, I think," Heffel smiled.
"Reading through Carr's writings, she documents some very comical events, how the phone would ring and her monkey Woo ... would answer the phone and put it in front of her parrot who would reply 'Hello, hello,hello'."
Rodd said his dad talked of Carr being eccentric, creative and intelligent.
"So my father, I guess, being a young teenager, was quite attracted to her dog and monkey and all that paraphernalia."
The Christmas card she gave to Twinkie has a painting of Woo in a little girl's dress and reads: "That all good things may come to you is the wish of little Woo."
The items are being sold at auction in Vancouver, along with several other Carr paintings, on May 26.
Between now and then, the items will be on display at the Heffel galleries in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.
Carr died in 1945.
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