Joseph Plavcan: The Making of an Artist
January 29th, 2024 - TBD
Nicholas Gallery
Joseph Plavcan is one of the most celebrated artists and art educators in the history of Erie, Pennsylvania, with a career spanning a half century. Some may associate the Plavcan name with his abstract landscapes of the 1960s and 70s, but this exhibition focuses on the artist’s earlier career as a student and young professional up to the 1950s. Plavcan worked with various media and painted mostly from life, capturing the people and places of his community. As an art teacher at Erie Technical High School, he inspired many of his pupils to pursue their own artistic careers. These galleries present the initial installment of a rotating exhibition that will follow Joseph Plavcan’s 50-year career. It features his student work made in his youth and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, as well as paintings created upon his return to Erie, which capture a city in the midst of major change. It also includes the work of Catharine Burns Plavcan, his wife and mother to their four children, who was an artist and art critic herself.
Plavcan’s career spanned five decades, and while he created hundreds of finished paintings, he rarely dated his work. This exhibition draws on works from the Museum’s permanent collection, as well as those borrowed from collectors, to map the arc of his career. What emerges is a remarkable artistic journey rooted in Erie’s history and traditions. We invite you to explore Plavcan’s many distinct styles and find your own theories of how they all fit together.
The Red Mill | Oil on Canvas | 1930 | Museum Collection
Boat Builders | Oil on Canvas | 1950 | Museum Collection
Acknowledgements
In 2022, local collector Martin Farrell loaned a large body of recently rediscovered student work by Joseph Plavcan to the Erie Art Museum for study. This became the spark for the current retrospective, the first major showing of Plavcan’s work since 2008. The exhibition would not be possible without the generosity and enthusiasm of Plavcan collectors, both in Erie and farther afield. We would like to thank Lisa Plavcan Drumm of Akron, Ohio for the loan of many of her father’s works. John Plavcan (a nephew of Joseph Plavcan) loaned the Museum some of Plavcan’s earliest historical pieces. Other lenders include Gary Cacchione, John Manger, and Roger and Nedra Richards. We also thank those lenders who wished to remain anonymous. The Erie County Public Library and The Hagen History Center have graciously shared their collections and knowledge. The expertise and connections of gallerist and Plavcan enthusiast Steve Wood proved invaluable in bringing many of these pieces to light and interpreting them. EAM Collections Intern Lauren Stroupe provided vital help with research, writing, and curation. Finally, thanks to Erie Art Museum staff, board, donors, and members for supporting the mission and making exhibitions like this possible.
Classroom | Oil on Canvas | 1940 | Museum COllection