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CREASE, Josephine

Born
New Westminster, British Columbia, 1864
Died
Victoria, British Columbia, 1947
Biography synopsis
Of all the Crease family artists, Josephine Crease had the most enduring interest in art, particularly in sketching and in watercolour landscapes. Although she took private lessons intermittently throughout her life, her greatest opportunity to study art came when she and her sister, Susan, were sent to England to meet their relatives. There, they studied art in the Ladies' Department, King's College, London, where they took antique and life classes. Josephine was also fond of organizing sketching expeditions, and frequently explored various areas of Vancouver Island searching for new landscapes to represent. A close friend of many of Victoria's upper class women artists, including Sophie Pemberton, the artist was a founding member of the Island Arts and Crafts Society and exhibited her work in their annual shows from 1919-1941. In addition, she also served on the committee of the Society's School of Handicraft and Design and became its Honourary President in 1939. Other association memberships include the Sketching Club (1900-09; president in 1903), the Drawing and Library Club (1902), the Women's Canadian Club and the Alexandra Club (treasurer 1898). She also participated in exhibitions of the British Columbia Society of Fine Arts (1924), the Vancouver Art Gallery (1934-40) and the Victoria Fair, where she won first prize for her watercolours in 1901 and 1906. Her work can be found in the collections of the Provincial Archives of British Columbia and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Media used
Painting
Watercolour
Education
Angela College, Victoria
Private study (under Ellen Chaffey Richards, Victoria)
De L'Aubinière Studio, Victoria
King's College, London, 1889 - ?
Angela College, Victoria, 1878 - ?
Private study, 1908 (under Ethel Leather (lessons in riveting for mending china))
King's College, London, 1889 - 1891 (under Albert William Holden)
Private study, 1889 (under Lottie Aliston)
Private study, 1887 - 1888 (under Samuel Maclure (painting))
Private study, 1888 (under Charles and Georgina de L'Aubiniere)
Private study, 1881 (under Ellen Chaffey Richards)
Private study, 1889 (under Ainslie Borrow)
Private study, 1891 - 1901 (under Sophie Pemberton)
Private study, 1905 - 1906 (under Josephine Woodward)
Private study, 1910 (under Anne Batchelor)
Memberships
Island Arts and Crafts Society, 1901
Sketching Club, Victoria, 1900
Drawing and Library Club, Victoria, 1902
File & Archive locations
National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
University of Virginia - Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
British Columbia Archives
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
"Frontier Women in B.C.: Portrait of a Nation's Soul" The Vancouver Sun 17 Dec 2002: A10
"Miss Crease" Victoria Daily Times 22 Sept. 1892
"Obituary" Colonist (Victoria, BC) 25 Dec. 1947
"This is for Saturday Dec. 18 1993." Times-Colonist (Victoria) (21 Dec. 1993): 1
"Victoria Through Artist's Eyes - 1845 to present" Arts Victoria Victoria: Vol. 5, no. 1 (May 1979): 8
Amos, Robert. "A Woman's Place Defined." Times-Colonist (Victoria) 7 Oct. 2004: D8
Amos, Robert. "Artist brought modernism to Victoria." Times-Colonist (Victoria) 21 Aug. 2003: F4
Amos, Robert. "Carr show at AGGV crammed with history" Times-Colonist (Victoria, BC) 15 June 1996: 1
Amos, Robert. "This is for Saturday" Times-Colonist Victoria, B.C: 21 December, 1993: 1.
Bridge, Kathryn Anne. Henry & self: the private life of Sarah Crease 1826-1922 Victoria: Sono Nis Press, 1996
Bridge, Kathy. A History of Victoria's Art Organizations and their Influences Over the Years 1976
Finlay, K.A. and Shea, T.. "A Woman's Place" Art and the Role of Women in the Cultural Formation of Victoria B.C. 1850s-1920s Victoria, B.C.: Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery, University of Victoria, 2004
Gilmore, Bernice C. Artists Overland: A Visual Record of British Columbia 1793-1886. Burnaby: Burnaby Art Gallery, 1980
Harper, J. Russell. Early Painters and Engravers in Canada Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970
Hembroff-Schleicher, Edythe. The Modern Room. Victoria: Emily Carr Gallery of the Pronvincial Archives of BC, 1981
Hubbard, R. H.. Ample mansions : the viceregal residences of the Canadian provinces Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1989
Hume, Stephen. "Elite excess and riff-raff reality: Series: Frontier Women in B.C.: Portrait of a Nation's Soul" The Vancouver Sun Vancouver: (17 December 2002): A10
Hume, Stephen Eaton. Raincoast Chronicles 20: Lilies and Fireweed: Frontier Women of BC. Madeira Park, British Columbia: Harbour Publishing, 2004
Humphreys, Danda. "Home for the Creases" Times-Colonist (Victoria) Victoria: (30 August 1998): 3
Island Arts and Crafts Club. Catalogue of the Fifth Annual Exhibition: Island Arts and Crafts Club, to be held November 19th, 20th and 21st, 1914, Alexandra Club. Victoria: Island Arts and Crafts Club, 1914
Johnson-Dean, Christina. "British Columbia. Women Artists, 1885-1920." British Columbia Women Artists, 1885-1985. Victoria: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1985
Johnson-Dean, Christina B. The Crease Family and the Arts in Victoria, British Columbia. Ottawa: National Library of Canada, 1983
Lover, John Gordon. The Victoria Sketch Club: A Centennial Celebration, 1909-2009 Victoria, B.C.: Victoria Sketch Club, 2008
McKendry, Blake. Dictionary of Folk Artists in Canada: From the 17th Century to the Present. Elginburg: Blake McKendry, 1988
Nicol, Janet Mary. "Sophie Pemberton" Artichoke vol.12, no.2, summer 2000: 8-10
Pazdro, Roberta J. "From Pastels to Chisel: The Changing Role of BC Women Artists." Not Just Pin Money. Victoria: Camosun, 1984
Petteys, Chris, et al. Dictionary of Women Artists: An International Dictionary of Women Artists Born Before 1900. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1985
Powell, Barbara. "The diaries of the Crease women" BC Studies Nos. 105/106 (1995): 44-58
Salmon, Peter. "Sunday Reader - Islander - History of Painting in Victoria." Times-Colonist (Victoria) 12 May 1996: 1
Segger, Martin. "Arts and Crafts Artist: More than a Dalliance" The Buildings of Samuel Maclure: In Search of Appropriate Form Victoria: Sono Nis Press, 1986
Tippett, Maria and Douglas Cole. From Desolation to Splendour: Changing Perceptions of the British Columbia Landscape Toronto: Clarke, Irwin and Company Ltd, 1977
Tippett, Maria and Douglas Cole. "Art in British Columbia - The Historical Sources" BC Studies No. 23 (Fall 1974):25-33
Tuele, Nicholas. "B.C. Women Artists: 1885-1985" Canadian Collector (November/December 1985):60-63
Vancouver Centennial Museum. An inventory and catalogue of historical paintings and drawings done in 19th-century British Columbia Vancouver: Centennial Museum, 1969
Westbridge, Anthony R. Canadian Art Sales Index. Vancouver: Westbridge Publications Ltd., 1995
Westbridge, Anthony R. The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction. Vancouver: Westbridge Publications, 2001
Williams, Carol Jane. Framing the West: Race, Gender and the Photographic "Frontier" on the Northwest Coast, 1858-1912. Rutgers: State University of New Jersey, 1999

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