Joan Balzar: Abstract painter stood out in ‘60s West Coast art scene

Even within the dynamic and tumultuous 1960s West Coast art scene, painter Joan Balzar stood out from the crowd. In person, the chain-smoking fashionista exuded the verve and bravado of the most testosterone-fuelled artists of Los Angeles and New York. Her op art canvases matched her persona: intensely bright and highly sophisticated. They grabbed attention 50 years ago, when she began making them, and more recently in belated solo exhibitions. When Ms. Balzar died in North Vancouver on Jan. 16, the 87-year-old artist left a legacy of bold, luminous paintings that suggest power and vitality.

Although many scholars consider Ms. Balzar's work to be in the same league as exalted West Coast artists Roy Kiyooka, Michael Morris and Iain Baxter, she struggled to gain the same attention from the 1960s establishment. "She was at the cutting edge of whatever it was," said curator Scott Watson, head of the University of British Columbia's visual arts department. But, he added, "the art world wouldn't take these women as seriously as they would the men." It wasn't until later in life that her accomplishment was fully recognized, with group and solo exhibitions at significant venues such as the Vancouver Art Gallery, Simon Fraser University Art Gallery, Belkin Satellite, Seattle Art Museum and West Vancouver Museum.