Three years ago, the Coast Reporter published a photograph of five Sunshine Coast residents carved by the late Charles Murray.
He and his wife Alice Murray were well-known local watercolour artists, exhibiting regularly on the Coast, he was also a carver.
He and Alice travelled around B.C. and down the West Coast of the U.S. into Mexico, painting as they went. The archives was given one of Alice’s water colours and several prints done by Charles as well as his carvings.
With the help of the Coast Reporter’s readers we were able to identify the five figures. Eighteen carvings were donated to the Archives; the first five pictured in 2019, the five pictured here, five carvings of naked people (not for publication!) and three “fantasy” heads.
One of the carvings shown here, the lady on the front left, has the name Mrs. Wood written on the base. There have been several Wood families in Sechelt throughout the years: George and Edythe Wood, their son Kenneth and second wife Isabel Mae Barker Wood, another Kenneth Wood in West Sechelt, no wife mentioned, and John (Jack) and Ella Wood also in West Sechelt. Is our carving one of these Mrs. Woods and who are the other four people?
Please e-mail any information to [email protected] or phone 604-989-0571.
Ann Watson is the archivist at Sechelt Community Archives.
