HRH The Prince of Wales visits Dulwich Picture Gallery
Image caption: From left to right: HRH The Prince of Wales, co-curators Sarah Milroy and Ian Dejardin © Photo, Stuart Leech
On Tuesday 11 November 2014, HRH The Prince of Wales visited Dulwich Picture Gallery to see the current exhibition 'From Forest to Sea: Emily Carr in British Columbia'. HRH was greeted by Haida Hereditary Chief and master carver, Jim Hart, the Gallery’s Sackler Director and Co-Curator of the exhibition, Ian Dejardin, and Canadian High Commissioner Gordon Campbell as well as The Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, Sir David Brewer, C.M.G., J.P and The Worshipful Mayor of Southwark, Cllr. Sunil Chopra.
The event, attended by students from Emily Carr University of Art + Design and The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, provided an opportunity to meet HRH and discuss past, current and future art making practises in Canada and Europe. Students presented their portfolios to HRH during a traditional art workshop where they also demonstrated techniques such as porcupine quilling.
‘From the Forest to the Sea: Emily Carr in British Columbia’ is the first major solo show in Europe dedicated to Emily Carr (1871–1945). Gathering together her paintings of the aboriginal settlements she encountered during her travels up the West Coast of Canada and her formidable landscapes and seascapes, the show exemplifies Carr’s life-long artistic evolution and the eventual discovery of a freedom in style that secured her position as one of Canada’s best loved artists. In challenging circumstances Carr’s success as both an artist and a celebrated author challenged the status quo with Georgia O’Keeffe calling her a “darling of the women’s movement”.
A pioneer of modernism, fully aware of international movements in art such as Fauvism and Post-Impressionism, Carr was fascinated by the indigenous populations of British Columbia. She immersed herself in the people and landscape and drew upon both for inspiration and subject matter. The exhibition presents a focused selection of over 140 works and indigenous artefacts as well as the recently discovered illustrated journal, Sister and I in Alaska, in which Carr documented her pivotal 1907 trip up and down the Northwest Coast.
- Ends
Contact
Louisa Bee, Press Officer
l.bee@dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk / 020 8299 8710
Notes to editors
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery is the world’s first purpose-built public art gallery, founded in 1811 and designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane. It houses one of the finest collections of Old Masters in the country, especially rich in French, Italian and Spanish Baroque paintings and in British portraits from the Tudor period to the 19th century. The Gallery’s permanent collection is complemented by its diverse and critically acclaimed year round temporary exhibitions.
For over a quarter of a century Dulwich Picture Gallery’s award-winning learning and community engagement programmes have reached beyond the Gallery’s exhibition programme to bring art to the South London community through outreach initiatives including ‘Youth Engagement Programme’, ‘Good Times: Art for Older People’ and ‘Prescription for Art’.
Work of The Prince's School for Traditional Arts
The Prince's School for Traditional Arts is implementing several arts-based initiatives with Canada's Indigenous Peoples, also known as First Nations.
The first project is with the Ahousaht First Nation in British Colombia, on Canada's West Coast (the very same area where Emily Carr drew so much of the inspiration for her art). The project with the Ahousaht community delivered a series of workshops on the principles of traditional design with a focus on crafts skills such as Cedar bark weaving, building shelters and wood carving. The workshops were for both Elementary and High School pupils and the teaching and material taught included knowledge, time and expertise from Ahoushat cultural educators, school teachers and Elders with the principal aim of further connecting the community’s different generations through art and traditional knowledge. A piece of a boardwalk that the students and the community members have carved based on the practices and principles they have learned as part of the project was on display at Dulwich Picture Gallery during HRH's visit.
The second initiative is a new and growing partnership between Canada's First Nations University and The PSTA which offers an exchange programme between PSTA Alumni and First Nations University teachers to share traditional knowledge and support each other’s teaching practices. Assistant Professor and First Nation Artist Judy Anderson is in London for two months introducing PSTA MA students to First Nations art history as well as teaching beading and quilling techniques. As part of the exchange Judy is also taking part in the PSTA MA programme classes such as traditional geometry, the alchemy of paint and parquetry. The beading and quilling work created by the MA students under Judy Anderson’s guidance was presented at Dulwich Picture Gallery during HRH's visit.
About Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Emily Carr University of Art + Design, established in 1925, is a world leader in education and research. Encouraging experimentation at the intersection of art, design, media and technology, our learning community merges research, critical theory and studio practice in an interdisciplinary environment. Alumni and faculty are internationally recognized as award-winning creators and thought leaders who have enormous impact on both the cultural sector and economy. We engage students, industry, and society to continuously explore and think differently about creativity and how it shapes our world. Emily Carr is building a state-of-the art campus for 21st century learning at Great Northern Way. The University will be at the centre of a new social, cultural, educational, and economic engine for British Columbia. Find out more at ecuad.ca.