Vancouver-based artist and activist Joe Average dies at age 67 – BC

Beloved Vancouver-based artist and activist Joe Common has handed away on the age of 67.

Family and friends affirm he died on Christmas Eve.

Recognized for his vividly vibrant artwork items depicting individuals, animals and flowers, Common was additionally a champion of LGBTQ2+ rights.

Born Brock David Tebbutt on Oct. 10, 1957 in Victoria, B.C., Common didn’t take into account a creative profession path till his 30s.

After being identified with HIV on the age of 27 and watching his well being and monetary state of affairs decline over the following few years, Common resolved to discover a cause to push ahead. Artwork turned that cause.

Over the following three and a half a long time, Common partnered with dozens of charitable organizations, donating his artwork and time.

His items have been featured in museums, on Canadian cash and stamps, on metropolis banners and huge murals. His works will be discovered all through Vancouver, together with town’s Davie Village.

In the meantime, his charity work has ranged from AIDS foundations and well being organizations to training and inventive centres throughout the nation.

Most just lately, he acquired the Order of Canada in 2024 and the Order of British Columbia in 2021.

In an interview with International Information, former Vancouver-Burrard MLA Lorne Mayencourt informed International Information he first met Common in 1990. They dated for a lot of years and maintained a detailed friendship over the previous three a long time.

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“He meant rather a lot to me. He meant rather a lot to lots of people. He contributed immensely to our metropolis,” he mentioned.

“He helped me very a lot after I began Mates For Life, which is an company that helps individuals with AIDS and most cancers. Yearly for the AIDS Stroll he was the man that did the t-shirts. For Homosexual Video games he did the commemorative posters. For BC Youngsters’s Hospital he did murals.”

Mayencourt says he final spoke to Common on Monday over the telephone.

“As ordinary he was giving me recommendation and I used to be giving him recommendation,” he mentioned.

“He was in nice spirits. He was wanting ahead to Christmas day. I feel he had taken just a few days off due to his sickness, and after our dialog I didn’t converse to him once more and he simply handed away.”

Dr. Julio Montaner, the director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, was Common’s longtime physician.

“We’ve been by means of rather a lot, to the purpose that we’ve turn out to be fairly shut — greater than only a typical patient-doctor relationship. There was some mutual respect and admiration that we have been each doing attempting to maneuver our widespread agenda ahead,” he informed International Information.

Montaner mentioned he final noticed Joe Common on Dec. third. On the time, he mentioned the artist and activist was proudly displaying off his Order of Canada pin.

“It left me with a substantial amount of pleasure to know that he was so pleased, in all probability the happiest I had seen him in a really very long time,” he mentioned.

“I by no means anticipated it might be the final time I might see Joe.”

Montaner says Common led a singular life.

“He was very happy with his accomplishments, and though his well being was fragile for now a number of a long time, he by no means gave up and he continued combating day-after-day, all the time with a smile. I actually worth his heat, his assist and his dedication to the work that we have been each dedicated to.”

Vancouver-West Finish MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert additionally paid tribute to Common in a post on the social media platform X.

“He was something however common. He will likely be deeply missed by many,” he wrote.

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