Sold for: $31,250

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the Artist by Kate Stovel Mather, Victoria
By descent to the present Private Collection, Ontario

LITERATURE
Maria Tippett, Emily Carr: A Biography, 1979, Kate Mather mentioned pages 136, 152, 145 and 268

From about 1913 to 1927, economic times were challenging for Emily Carr. Unable to make a living from her art, she did little painting. She operated a boarding house and produced crafts such as hooked rugs and pottery, among other enterprises. In 1900, Carr had taken a course in clay modeling at the Westminster School of Art in England, but she did not produce any clay objects until around 1924. She used clay that she dug herself from locations including Dallas Road and a construction site in Victoria, and she brought it back to her studio in her wicker pram.

Carr fired her hand-built clay objects in a homemade kiln in her back yard, which was very difficult to use. Since the kiln did not have a damper or temperature control, it required constant monitoring, and the fire had to be regulated by hand. It took 12 to 14 hours to complete a firing, and there was the constant danger of the kiln causing a fire. She produced candlesticks, totems, bowls, pots and lamps. After cooling, these single-fired objects were then painted with a mixture of enamel paint and sand, using a variety of Indigenous motifs that Carr researched in books such as John Swanton’s ethnography of the Haida and at the provincial museum near her home. Carr prided herself on keeping the Indigenous motifs pure. She signed her clay objects Klee Wyck, a name given to her by the Nuu-chah-nulth people of western Vancouver Island, which meant “Laughing One.”

The original owner of this ceramic work, Kate Mather, was a craftswoman who operated a summer gift shop in Banff and wintered in Victoria. In 1924, she rented a suite in Carr’s Hill House, and she encouraged Carr to begin making pottery to sell in her shop. Until 1928, when she moved to Toronto, Mather was instrumental in promoting Carr's work to craft exhibitions across the country, and her marketing abilities were acknowledged and appreciated by Carr, who did not like the process of selling. First presented in evening sales at Carr’s studio, her ceramic work was then marketed, with Mather’s assistance, at venues such as an arts and crafts sale in Toronto, a craft exhibition at the Château Laurier in Ottawa and a show in Peterborough in 1927, the Canadian Handicraft Guild’s Montreal shop in 1928, and in 1930 at the CPR’s Handicraft Festival in Calgary. An article titled "Women Potters and Indian Themes" in Maclean’s magazine (March 1927) declared that Carr’s pottery had an “instant appeal” and was so popular she could not keep up with the demand for it.

This is a large and particularly fine ceramic piece, with the highly desirable motif of an orca or killer whale, a powerful symbol of the Pacific Northwest. The motif and decorative patterned edge are boldly outlined with black and richly coloured with white, bluish grey, orange and green, contrasted against an unpainted clay ground. The killer whale is delightfully animated and projects a ferocious yet gleeful presence.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars