Gavin Hamilton BurnsĪGGV: Tell us about your research process.
Emily Carr| Deep Woods | 1936 | oil on paper | Gift of Flora Hamilton Burns and Patricia Keir in memory of their parents, Mr. I also found out that Kathleen had a little sister who had died, so it seemed like a perfect idea for a story. I had this vision in my head of the two girls meeting and I thought about the contrast between them, Kathleen who was upper-class and rather ordinary in character, and Emily, whose father was a grocer, and she was a genius and a free spirit. And I realized that Mrs Crane was right next door to the O’Reilly house (now Point Ellice House). I read Emily’s story “Mrs Crane” in The Book of Small about how she went to stay at Mrs Crane’s house and how she couldn’t bear her at all. K.P.: I was on the Board of Point Ellice House, and that’s when I learned about Kathleen O’Reilly. Later on, I discovered her books, especially The Book of Small which is so beautifully written and had such a wonderful portrayal of Victoria at the time.ĪGGV: How did you work Kathleen O’Reilly, who was also a prominent figure in Victoria’s history, into the story? I’ve loved her paintings ever since then. I love trees and the ones with the trees felt like you could just walk right into the woods. The first time I saw them, I was bowled over. My mother would come to visit and take me out on weekends and we always went to the Vancouver Art Gallery to look at the Emily Carr paintings. K.P.: I grew up in Edmonton but went to boarding school in Vancouver. We visited Pearson at her Oak Bay home which she shares with artist Katherine Farris and their two dogs, Piper and Brio, for a discussion on her book, and the two protagonists who lived in Victoria in 1881 – 9-year-old Emily and 13-year-old Kathleen O’Reilly.ĪGGV: What inspired you to write about Emily Carr? This is the imagined Emily Carr as a child, dreamed up by the award-winning Victoria-based children’s author, Kit Pearson, in her book A Day of Signs and Wonders (Harper Collins, 2016).
She’s a bit scruffy in a proper pinafore dress that has been muddied by some exuberant playing in the woods where said girl has been talking to birds and enjoying the wonders of nature.
Imagine a nine-year-old girl in Victoria, B.C., 1881.
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