Klee Wyck Pot

Acquired at Jasper Park Lodge (1920s) By descent to the present Private Collection, Ontario

Emily Carr created unique ceramics inspired by her time on a Ucluelet Native reserve in British Columbia on the west coast of Vancouver Island, home to the Nuu-chah-nulth people, then commonly known to English-speaking people as 'Nootka'. As a young person, Carr was embraced by the community where she was given her Native name, “Klee Wyck,” which loosely translates as “Laughing One.” The small scale, reduction of design to minimalist aesthetics and colour palette of black, blue, white and points of red, all give nod to Carr's exposure to and influence of the Nootka People's traditions and artistic expression on her own practice.