CULTURAL GROUP:
Coast Salish

BORN:
February 25, 1943 (d. 2014)

BIRTHPLACE:
Musqueam Reserve, Vancouver, BC

Joe Becker was a self-taught artist who was well-known for his wood carving and Salish designs. His early life on the Fraser River led to a career as a fisherman, but he began experimenting with carving in the early 1960s. Joe moved home to Musqueam as an adult, and began focusing on producing art in the traditional Coast Salish style. He quickly gained recognition for his art. Some of the highlights of his career included working on the Coast Salish Longhouse at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, QC, and creating over 400 talking sticks for VANOC, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. He received several other large commissions, including a mural project at the University of British Columbia in 2007. Joe was also the founder of Direction 7 Designs, which specializes in Coast Salish designs and large-scale projects. Joe passed away in 2014.