{"id":62551,"date":"2010-11-11T12:38:50","date_gmt":"2010-11-11T18:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=62551"},"modified":"2022-03-21T12:52:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T18:52:59","slug":"g-i-joe-wilson-was-utahs-joe-wilson-lowes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/g-i-joe-wilson-was-utahs-joe-wilson-lowes\/","title":{"rendered":"G.I. Joe Wilson: Utah’s Joe Wilson Lowes"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/span>by Kandace Steadman<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“Hieroglyhpics” by Joe Wilson<\/p><\/div>\n

Action figures and cartoon characters live in the work and real life of artist Joe Wilson, a forgotten artist in the chronicle of Utah art. Joseph Francis Marion Wilson, better known as Joe, was born in Salt Lake City in 1913. He spent his early years in Idaho, but returned to Utah in his teens. During those years he worked with the C.C.C., the Civilian Conservation Corps. He also served in the Army during World War II.<\/p>\n

This guy was no ordinary Joe.<\/p>\n

He loved to paint and sculpt but few of his works are found today. Those rare pieces are whimsical in their content, ranging from cartoon riffs on Egyptian art,\u00a0<\/strong>to depictions of the depression, to calendar art images that look like collage. Only they\u2019re not. He painted those additions directly onto the canvas.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“Kansas” by Joe Wilson<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photographic source material for “Kansas”<\/p><\/div>\n

Family members claim they have documentation stating he was the original G. I. Joe, an action figure that has gained icon status in the toy box. And he was offered a position as a cartoonist with the Walt Disney Corporation. Whether he actually worked for them is unknown. Wilson died in 1998.<\/p>\n

But whatever is truth or fantasy about Joe Wilson, his work was charismatic and ever-changing.<\/p>\n

Is there a Joe Wilson in your collection? Do you have a story about him? Can you add to the lore of legend? If so, please contact Kandace Steadman at ksteadman@muahnet.org.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Painting by Joe Wilson<\/p><\/div>\n

The Museum of Utah Art & History is gathering information about Wilson and other Utah artists who aren\u2019t in the canon of Utah art history and creating a database of biographies and images. If you have additional information about Joe Wilson, images, or other overlooked artists that you would like to see included please contact Kandace Steadman at\u00a0ksteadman@muahnet.org
\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Kandace Steadman Action figures and cartoon characters live in the work and real life of artist Joe Wilson, a forgotten artist in the chronicle of Utah art. Joseph Francis Marion Wilson, better known as Joe, was born in Salt Lake City in 1913. He spent his early […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historical-artists","category-visual_arts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/90.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-01 23:33:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62551"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62573,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62551\/revisions\/62573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}