I felt as though I had stepped back in time, stuck between two worlds, as I stood in front of Miss Carrs old boarding house, and studio. Freshly built modern condos now dwarf her quaint home, instead of tall Douglas’s fir, and giant Cedar and open meadows. I couldn’t help but wonder what she’d make of it all, if she were to see it now? After researching, and reading her books, I think disappointed and bewildered would describe it perfectly. As an outcast in Victorian times, she’d fit right in at any sixty’s rock concert, yet she was totally alone, in here own hometown. Standing there, I thought of the story, of her hanging chairs in her kitchen, primarily for space, but if you came visiting, and a chair wasn’t lowered, your stay was going to be very short.
Any celebrity status that she would enjoy today, would have been totally foreign to her. For she always thought of herself and work as wanting. Unable to understand her, and she them, she lived as an outcast, with very little financial, and moral support. Hippies that were first rejected in the sixties by society, would have no idea of the loneliness, and scorn she would have received back in Victorian times. Even her high society proper English sisters were estranged from her. I think if it wasn’t for her two trips to Europe, and later glowing accolades form Group of Seven, member Lawren Harris, she would have never fit in?
Personally, I think her later trip to France in 1910, and the influence of the post impressionists, and fauvists [Wild Beasts] greatly set her style. I see the strong influence of the painter, Harry Gibb. The resemblance in her work by her teacher, and English painter Harry Gibb is striking. Gibb was living and working in Paris at the time, plus the influence of the Fauvists and the amazing colors of the post impressionist, is also evident. Even Gertrude Stein raved of Harry's work, saying it was well over the heads of many.. These were her real people, and living on her beloved windswept and lonely Vancouver Island, away from them must have been hard for her. Although she seemed to thrive in isolation? I suppose once she had the basics, she would have done well anywhere she settled.
