TIN

Description: RECTANGULAR RED STEEL TIN WITH HINGED LID. COVER READS "PAINT BOX" AND "THE ALL CANADIAN WATER COLOURS" AND HAS THE INITIALS "JN" SCRATCHED INTO IT. PAINT FINISH IS WORN SLIGHTLY.

History: PAINT TIN ORIGINALLY HAD WATERCOLOUR PAINTS IN IT, WHICH DONOR USED AS A SCHOOL STUDENT. DONOR RELATES THAT SHE USED THE TIN AS A PENCIL CASE AFTER THE PAINTS WERE USED UP. HER INITIALS, "JN", ARE SCRATCHED INTO LID. THE NAKAYAMA FAMILY WAS ORIGINALLY FROM VANCOUVER BUT MOVED TO COALDALE FOLLOWING THE SECOND WORLD WAR WHEN THEY WERE INTERNED AT SLOCAN CITY IN THE INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA BY THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT. THE DONOR'S FATHER, REV. CANON G.G. NAKAYAMA, WAS AN ANGLICAN MINISTER IN VANCOUVER, AND THEN ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION IN COALDALE IN 1945 WHERE HE SERVED UNTIL 1970. FROM AUGUST 29 TO 31, 2011 COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED THE DONOR, JOY KOGAWA, ABOUT HER MEMORIES ASSOCIATED WITH SPECIFIC OBJECTS THAT SHE DONATED IN 1997. OF THIS ARTIFACT, KOGAWA SAID: “[I HAD THIS] AT SCHOOL, AND IT HAD THIS LITTLE PAINT BRUSH IN IT, AND YOU WOULD OPEN THE LID… ONE [SECTION] WOULD BE FOR WATER… AND THEN YOU’D MIX THE PAINT IN THERE AND GET DIFFERENT COLOURS… I’M NOT AN ARTIST, AT ALL, BUT IT WAS FUN TO DO… I HAVE A FEW [PAINTINGS] FROM GRADE EIGHT… THERE WAS ONE WHERE I HAD [PAINTED] A GIRL SILHOUETTED WITH HER ARMS UP, [WITH] TWO TREES. AND THERE’S ONE THAT SAYS, ‘ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD’, AND THEN THERE’S ONE GIRL WHO’S POOR, STANDING THERE, AND THIS OTHER ONE THAT’S SNOOTY, WALKING BY.” SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY.