Joseph Plavcan had a 50-year career as an artist. His work has been shown in the Carnegie International Exhibition in Pittsburgh, PA, Corcoran Biennial in Washington D.C., the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Erie Art Center and Museum among others.

Plavcan created work in various media. He mainly focused on capturing people and places in his community, but is also known for his abstract landscape pieces. Though he painted both realistically and abstractly, he was dedicated to the exploration of color throughout.

Joseph Plavcan was born in Braddock, Pennsylvania in 1908. He was raised in Erie by parents who had emigrated from Czechoslovakia. Plavcan was an art teacher in Erie at Technical Memorial High school.