If you are interested in the environment which generated the powerful West Coast Native art, the artist, Emily Carr, conjures it up in this original book. Her travels to their coastal villages are translated into these atmospheric essays.

this book by Emily Carr gives a very wonderful and descriptive account of the Pacific Northwest along British Columbia's shores. Emily Carr was a very unique woman who defied her times in her interactions with Native Peoples and her adventurous independance. This book details her explorations among the Queen Charlotte Islands. It is so descriptive it makes one feel that they are actually on the west coast.

If you are interested in expanding your knowledge of artists on this continent (North America), specifically the West Coast, I'd recommend this erudite volume on the work of Emily Carr. Emily Carr was a late-bloomer, but when she found her own she produced haunting canvases of her encounters with Northwest Coast Native Art, specifically totems. This was followed by strong formalized images of the coastal rainforest. Late in her life she painted expressive landscapes. I recently read that a joint exhibit of Emily Carr, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Frida Kahlo "Places of their Own" will be travelling to various venues in 200l/2002.

As a long time "fan" of the art of Canada's Emily Carr, I was anxious to read more of her writings. Through these letters to "friends", we, the reader, are given another side of Emily Carr. So much has been written about her irascible personality as she grew older; her intolerance, her feistiness. But in these letters I heard echoes of loneliness, insecurity and the fear of aging and growing sick that we all share about our own futures. I am not sure she would have liked having these letters published but I think reading these letters can give an insight that genius is not always confident or happy...that each of her paintings was like a child that she wanted everyone to love and understand. We read about her daily struggle to find a place to live, to relate to people, to just survive. This is what we read in "Dear Nan". The book saddened me that it was obvious that Emily Carr died alone with no one near her for comfort. It made me question the quality of her friends, and if they were truly friends. I think every reader of this book will examine their own lives, be they artists or just human beings because this book is really about friendship.

I really liked this book. it had alot of character in it. It also had romance mystery all packed into and unsuspected mystery.

Lovely stories of growing up in British Columbia, of the native Americans and her efforts to capture their art of totem poles. Humorously told stories by a great Canadian artist of the boarding house she opened and ran to make a living. Simple language with lovely metaphors.

Emily Carr has been a most critisized and misunderstood woman of her day. Born in the late 1800's. She did not fit the mold of the Victorian woman. Instead of staying home, raising children, and attending social functions, she befriended the often shunned Native population of Canada, most notably the Queen Charlotte Islands. She traveled to remote places by way of canoe with the Natives of the land. There, she lived in their homes, sketched and eventually painted their totems, their people. She captured their spirit, both in her heart and on canvas. Emily's art was not acceptable to the Victorian art patrons as women were not "real" painters - it was a mere hobby. She was not taken seriously. She always heard and saw what most people could not. She inhaled the woods, the land, and the Native peoples. She followed her own mind and heart, which put her in a position of being called "difficult". Emily Carr is still a breath of fresh air, a maverick of her day. Her view of the world, and how she translates a forest into words and canvas is truly an amazing experience. Her books will give you a walk through the forest, her life as a child, and her views on people as well as her affinity with the Native population. Emily will open your world up into a new appreciation for life itself.

The book was a great dissapointment , it is certainly not worth 25.00 I am sorry that I ordered it.....Emily Carr needs someone to do a worthy piece on her as she is one of the greatest canadian artist of the 20th century.......