Background
Joseph was the son of the Review J. W. Carey, a Moravian Minister at Kilwarlin Moravian Church, Kilwarlin, County Down, Ireland.
Joseph was the son of the Review J. W. Carey, a Moravian Minister at Kilwarlin Moravian Church, Kilwarlin, County Down, Ireland.
He trained as an illustrator with Marcus Ward & Company, publishers. Their firm specialised in high quality illuminated addresses, presentation albums, and book plates. Carey"s most important commission as an artist was for 13 scenes from Belfast history on canvas for the Ulster Hall in 1903 (restored in 1989 and 2009).
Between 1915-1935, 26 of his paintings were exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin.
His other interests included ballooning and chess. Examples of his work are in the Ulster Museum, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Armagh County Museum, Linen Hall Library, and Harbour Commissioners Office.
He was a founding member of Belfast Ramblers Sketching Club and Belfast Art Society, and later he became an academician of the Ulster Academy of Arts.