Bob Steele was born in Mervin, Saskatchewan, and spent his childhood in Hagen, Rockhaven, Biggar and Kerrobert. He began teaching in four one-room rural schools while still going to university in Saskatoon. Upon graduation he moved with his family to British Columbia where he worked as a high school teacher in Princeton and Chilliwack, as an art instructor at the Vancouver School of Art, and as an Associate Professor of Art Education at the University of B.C., where, in 1962, he designed the graphics program and set up the graphics studio behind the Scarfe Building. He taught printmaking and art methods in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts in Education in the Faculty of Education until his retirement in 1990. |
1962 |
2002 |
Bob was an exhibiting artist at galleries including the New Design Gallery, the Bau-Xi Gallery, and the Burnaby Art Gallery. Bob's fellow educators and his many friends will remember him as a passionate educator, artist, author and musician. After retirement Bob founded The Drawing Network, a group of art educators and parents who shared an interest in understanding and fostering child art. He contributed hundreds of articles, many of which are available at drawnet.duetsoftware.ca. Bob was the author of several books on children's drawing and arts education. He is the subject of a recent book, Drawing as Language: Celebrating the Work of Bob Steele by Marni Binder and Sylvia Fine. |
Bob is survived by his loving wife of seventy years, Mary Olive Steele (Pedersen), his children, Marne St. Claire (John Schreiber), Elizabeth Colpitts (Douglas), and David Steele (Stacey Uphill); by his grandsons, David St. Claire (Samantha, children Oscar and Genevieve), Michael St. Claire (Jennifer, children Svea, Ben, and Hannah), James Colpitts (Tina Chang, children Sophia, Alexander and Christopher), and Geoffrey Colpitts. We miss him very much. |
2007 |