BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Fraser Aldwin Wilson

July 1 1905 - July 31 1992

Newspaper Guild, Local 1 (Vice President)


Fraser Wilson was born in Vancouver in 1905. He worked and lived in Australia for a while, including doing illustrations for an orange drink company.

In 1939 he was the Vancouver Sun's Art Director.

He exhibited his work in the 1944 and 1945 British Columbia At Work exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

His painting Organisation in the 1944 exhibition won a special prize of $35.00, and was illustrated in WALLNEWS in March 1945, which also noted about the artist: "Vancouver-born professional artist; wide experience in all fields of art. Vice-president of Newspaper Guild, Local No. 1 (CCL)." The painting depicted three union organizers speaking to shipyard workers through a bull-horn.

He won a $50 award at the Second Annual BC at Work exhibition in 1945, sponsored by the Labour Arts Guild.

In 1947 he was working as a cartoonist for the local newspaper, but was let go because of his union organizing. That same year he was commissioned to paint a mural at the Boilermaker's Union Hall at 339 West Pender St. The mural was later removed, restored, and reinstalled at the Maritime Labour Centre in 1986.

He married Sarah Leith Reid on Sept. 7, 1931. He died in Burnaby.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1944 Nov. 21 - Dec. 10 Labour Arts Guild   1st B.C. At Work Organisation
Industry, Commerce and the Future
1945 Nov. 13 - Dec. 2 Labour Arts Guild   2nd B.C. At Work Job Well Done
Homes for Workers
Let's Win at Windsor

References

WALLNEWS March 1945
   "Issued by Industrial Information Division Wartime Information Board. Production by National Film Board."
   Painting Organisation by Wilson illustrated.

B.C. VITAL STATISTICS ON-LINE marriage, death (refer to BCVS)

https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2023/06/19/Case-Nearly-Lost-Mural-Lionizes-Workers/

Clippings

"City Pays to Restore Old Mural" by Moira Farrow
   Vancouver Sun November 3 1986

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