Marilyn Jones | Emily Carr Chronicler

From Record-Breaking Sale to Museum Treasure: Emily Carr’s Crazy Stair at the Audain

Published: 2 January, 2026
Written by Marilyn Jones

Heffel Fine Art Auction House celebrated the best in Canadian art with its much anticipated fall auction, held at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Toronto in 2012.. With 137 lots and hundreds of buyers – either present at the hotel, watching live online or bidding by phone – the evening achieved impressive total sales of $13,416,975 million (all prices are in Canadian dollars and include a 17 per cent buyer’s premium). Leading the evening…

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Family Christmas Celebrations in Emily Carr’s Victoria

Published: 25 December, 2025
Written by Marilyn Jones

In Emily Carr’s Victoria, Christmas evolved from a modest religious observance into the warm, family-centered celebration many people recognize today. Influenced by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who popularized the decorated Christmas tree in Britain, households began adorning trees with candles, oranges, sweets, and handmade ornaments. Traditions such as singing carols, exchanging Christmas cards, enjoying festive foods like plum pudding and roast goose or turkey, and gathering for games and storytelling became widespread. For many…

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Emily Carr and Walt Whitman: Kindred Spirits in Nature and Spirit

Published: 12 December, 2025
Written by Marilyn Jones

Emily Carr’s lifelong search for a language big enough to hold the forests and skies of the West Coast found an important companion in the poetry of Walt Whitman. Whitman’s expansive voice — bodily, earthy, mystical, and democratic — offered Carr a model for speaking of nature as alive and ensouled rather than merely picturesque. This post explores how Whitman’s writing intersected with Carr’s artistic and spiritual development: how it supported her independence, deepened…

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