Emily Carr 1871 - 1945. Portrait by John Mardon
Under the Distinguished Patronage of
The Honourable Steven L. Point
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia
See video as to how the world's first Trompe L'oeil Emily Carr mural Number 1 in our series came together.
See pictures on facebook as to how mural design came about.
Our Trompe L'oeil Mural named "Emily's Beloved Trees".
Painted By The Master Artist; Steffan Jünemann
The latest - Emily Carr Trompe L'oeil mural.
Emily Carr Series: Number 1
'Emily Carr's Beloved Trees'
Chemainus, BC. Canada.
Size 18.6m x 6.7m (57' x 22')
Photo by: Neil Newton.
The paint being used on the Chemainus "Emily Carr Trompe L'oeil mural" is "Nova Color".
Emily's paintings: from left to right - Sombreness Sunlit, Mountain Forest, Logger's Culls, Happiness and The Red Cedar.
After 25 years and 40 murals depicting the same mural theme, a new theme and style were long overdue. …but why Emily Carr? Emily Carr was a passionate artist. The unique and vanishing First Nations culture and the forested landscapes and rugged coastline of British Columbia were the driving themes behind her work. We are sure she would have loved the Chemainus mural project which is after all, all about art. By honoring Emily Carr as an iconic Canadian artist, we are also honoring, through her art, the art of our First Nations peoples and introducing their villages to the world. Emily Carr painted all over Vancouver Island. In 1924 - 1925 she visited the Chemainus Valley and painted “Chemainus Bay, 1924-25” which is in the collection of Calgary’s Glenbow Museum.
The Artist at work:
The Artist
Steffen Jünemann was born in Germany and has been an artist since early childhood. He was
the Director and CEO in charge of “Creative Connection” at the Civil Law
Association in Germany, and spent seven years as an illustrator and graphic
designer with the “Tools Development GMBH”. In 2007, he finally took the
quantum leap from employment and established himself as an independent,
freelance Trompe L’oeil artist working out of a very large studio in Münster,
Germany. Since 2007, Steffen has been actively engaged in painting with renowned
Trompe L’oeil artist John Pugh in the US. He has also been teaching, painting and
demonstrating Trompe L’oeil art in Germany, the US, and Dubai, where he works with a number of clients.
The Art
Jünemann ingeniously fools the onlooker’s eye through his Trompe L’oeil art,
illustrating stairs leading into an imaginary gallery displaying Emily Carr’s framed
paintings. Left to right, the paintings are Sombreness Sunlit, Mountain Forest,
Loggers Culls, Happiness and Red Cedar. Painted on Evolon, a non-woven acrylic
microfiber, in Germany, and applied on site, this marks a first for Chemainus and
Canada for this type of process. Steffen spent more than 2000 hours painting the
Trompe L'oeil mural. He used 2.5 km of blue tape to mask for shadows and special
effects. Every leaf on the Arbutus tree is different; there are no two leaves alike.
This Trompe L’oeil mural is a must see and a true masterpiece with world wide significance.
Wall before mural. 
Emily Carr Biography.
Emily Carr was born on December 13, 1871 in Victoria, BC. She was the eighth of nine children. Her parents died when she was in her early teens. Emily, who began drawing lessons at the age of eight, asked her financial guardian for permission and monetary support to attend art school in San Francisco, at the California School of Design. She moved to San Francisco in 1890 and resided there for three years. She also studied in London and in the English countryside, for five years, under many different teachers. Then, after a brief period of teaching children and the Ladies Art Club classes in Vancouver, Emily travelled to France in 1910 to study under Harry Gibb and Douglas Ferguson.
Carr’s work was not well received when she returned from her studies in France. Financial considerations forced her to find means, other than painting, to supplement her income. During the years 1914-1926, Emily was a landlady. She also sold hens, rabbits, fruit and pottery, and bred English bobtail sheepdogs. Her strong bond with the animal world was evident in a life full of many different sorts of animals, including a monkey named Woo, cats, rats, birds and many dogs of various breeds.
Emily had a reverence and fascination for the First Nations of the British Columbia coast. During her visit to the Ucluelet Indian Reserve on Vancouver Island in 1898, the Nuu-Chah-Nulth people gave her the name "Klee Wyck," which means "laughing one." She once said, "Indian people and their art touched me deeply" (Carr, Growing Pains, p. 211). Her work reflected her interest in First Nations culture, as well as the forest landscapes and skies of the British Columbia coast.
In 1924, Carr visited the Chemainus Valley and painted Chemainus Bay, 1924-25, which is now part of Calgary’s Glenbow Museum collection.
Emily was deeply moved by the work of the Group of Seven, which was similar to her own in its vivid interpretations of wilderness landscape. In 1927, at an exhibition in Ottawa, she met Lawren Harris, a person with whom she would begin a lifelong friendship. Carr admired Lawren Harris' work and he encouraged her and gave her confidence throughout the later part of her painting career.
Although she was never officially a member of the Group of Seven, Carr became a charter member of the Canadian Group of Painters, an organization that came together in 1932, after the Group of Seven disbanded. Her work became more valued in the years following her membership into this society of artists. She was given her first solo exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1938, at the age of 67.
Emily's writing career bloomed later in her life, as her health failed. She began writing at the age of 70. She was in the hospital, after her second heart attack, and writing was a way of passing the time. Her first book Klee Wyck, was an instant success and won the Governor General's Literary Award. The Book of Small, her second novel, was named Canadian Book of the Year in 1942. Growing Pains, her acclaimed autobiography, was completed just before her death.
After many years of heart problems, Emily Carr died on March 3, 1945 at St. Mary's Priory, a Victoria nursing home. Three days before her death, she was overjoyed to receive the news that the University of British Columbia planned to honour her with a Doctor of Letters degree at its May 1945 convocation. Carr's paintings and writings fill galleries and libraries across Canada, and she will always be remembered as one of Canada's most talented artists. Link to history of Emily video.
Why Emily Carr Murals?
The Chemainus Festival of Murals Society firmly believes that the Emily Carr mural project will, in time, change the demographics of the Chemainus visitor. Every individual who was educated in a North American university knows about Emily Carr. Many books have been written about her and she, herself, wrote a number of books. One of British Columbia’s oldest post-secondary institutions and one of the world's leading arts institutions, is the Emily Carr University of Art + Design which was founded in 1925. As the most famous female artist of her time and a Canadian icon today, she has admirers in every country, all potential visitors to Chemainus.
Even before its inauguration the project had an impact on our economy. The first public project was the vision banners on the welcome tower, which was designed by Mairi Budreau. This project provided work for the graphic artist to design the banners, the manufacturer who made the material for the banner, the company who created the finished product, the hardware store for supplies, the bucket lift and its operator who installed the banners, as well as many volunteer hours by the Festival of Murals to coordinate the project.
For the October 15, 2008 event, almost every organization in Chemainus worked in partnership to create a successful event. The Vancouver Island Soap Factory has created a new Emily Carr inspired soap. There will be Emily Carr clothing, new postcards, a special Emily Carr portrait and Emily Carr stamps. The list of new products and potential for job creation goes on and on, limited only by our imagination.
One of our first mural artists, Paul Marcano, wrote: “Well, looks like that Emily Carr idea is going to unfold sooner than I thought. I get a pang of nostalgia for losing the exclusivity of the Chemainus historic theme, however 25 years has certainly covered the subject and this is a revitalizing concept in itself so I can see it is good evolution for the town. In some ways, it may be the next step in artistic appreciation, away from the 'practical' purpose of art as historical representation towards a finer more in depth appreciation of art for art sake. Emily Carr being a naturalist will add a nice bread basket of imagery for embedding the forest industry theme of the current Chemainus murals.
While a new era has begun, the Chemainus historic theme will continue with more murals over the years. The parallel "Emily Carr Series" had its first mural, "Emily Carr's Beloved Trees", unveiled on October 15, 2008.
Steffen spent more than 2000 hr. painting the Trompe L'oeil mural. He used 2.5 km of blue tape to mask for shadows and special effects.
Every leaf on the arbutus tree is different, there are no two leaves the same, this mural is a must see and truly a master piece of world wide significance. In addition being a new technique, which is also another first in Canada. The artwork being painted on 'Evolon' in the studio (Germany) than glued to the wall and than finished with precision and detailed, brings with it a number of new challenges. Evolon is a revolutionary Microfilament, a new generation of non woven acrylic microfiber. While Steffen Jünemann used this product in USA, he is the first artist in Germany to pioneer this new technical wonder.
The"Emily Carr" series are partnered with the Emily Carr House in Victoria.
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