Plaskett, Joe, 1918-2014

Joseph Plaskett was born on July 12, 1918, in New Westminster, British Columbia.

He was a Canadian painter and educator. He initially studied history and taught school for six years, but in 1944, he became interested in art. He studied at Emily Carr University of Art and Design and the Banff School of Fine Arts. In 1945, he joined the B. C. Society of Artists. In 1946, after being awarded the first Emily Carr Scholarship for study in the U.S., he studied at the San Francisco School of Art. Afterwards, Plaskett taught at the Winnipeg School of Art and served as its director from 1947 to 1949. In summers, he studied in New York, Paris (1949-1951) and at the Slade School, London (1951-1952) with a bursary awarded by the British Arts Council. He took etching and engraving in Paris in 1953, and with the aid of a Canadian Government Overseas Scholarship, he opened a studio there in 1957. Plaskett's chosen subjects have always been intimate expressions of everyday life – interiors, still life, and portraits of friends and models. There is warm humanity to his work, a love of light and form and colour that is evident in every painting he produced. In 2001, he was awarded the Order of Canada for excellence in the field of visual art. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and the Canadian Group of Painters. In 2000, he moved to Suffolk, England. In 2004, he founded the Joseph Plaskett Foundation, which awards scholarships to Canadian artists.

He died on September 21, 2014, in Bromeswell, Suffolk, England.