She gave up painting for more than fifteen years when it seemed no one understood what she was trying to say with her paintbrush.

But when Lawren Harris, of the famous Canadian Group of Seven, became her mentor and inspiration, Emily Carr stopped painting totem poles and started painting what they were carved from — glorious Canadian trees. These paintings made her famous!

When Emily suffered a heart attack and could no longer go on painting expeditions, she began writing books. First, she wrote a tribute to her First Nation friends, entitled Klee Wick (which means Laughing One and was the Natives' name for her), then The Book of Small, Growing Pains, The House of All Sorts, Pause and countless essays and manuscripts, one of which is called Hundreds and Thousands.

Hundreds and Thousands is an alternative title for this piece — because it is made up of the hundreds and thousands of little episodes that make up the human, Emily Carr.

The show is interactive and includes poems, songs, and short excerpts from Emily's books. There are props, costumes and artifacts and, of course, copies of some of Emily's paintings. There is also a moral — that every outsider can find his or her place in the world by never, never giving in!

Adaptable to all ages, but targets Grades 3-5