ARTIST STATEMENT

" EMBRACE THE MEDUSA Like the Gorgon Medusa, whose gaze turns all living things to stone. I am She who dwells in her lair enticing all who dare. Who will Embrace the Medusa? Fear not for unlike the Gorgon, I will not harm thee. I will nourish and em bide in the depths of your soul vanquishing your fear. You need not recoil in horror, for that would be your undoing. Become one with me I beckon you -- Embrace the Medusa." JOUANNE

BIOGRAPHY

Returning to my art after many years, I and my then two year old daughter, the faithful crayola, and the Dutch oil crayon, a multicolored oil putty stick of green-gold, cerulean, violates, and hues of red swirled in and around its core, and from there came — the Tendril Series.

During the winter of 1996 I enrolled in a desktop publishing program at Sacramento Business Skills Center. Combining Photoshop filters with her figure drawings, I created the poster series Celebrating the Absurd.

I’ve been seen in ART news special Issue1995 (Summer Edition)featuring Gypsy (from CIBA chrome from the nude compilation Embrace the Medusa Collection). In the November 1995 issue, Serenity, and in the January 1996 issue Zeitgeist-the-Spirit of the Times – was advertised.

During the early nineties, I completed a course “Writing for Children and Teenagers”, from The Institute for Children's Literature. During the course of time, I wrote the tales for the Bedtime Stories Collection.

Later came The Subtle Changes Series a group of digital prints on metallic paper. These drawings were done using crayola, gouache, and oil stick on paper, were scanned then rearranged through cut away and layering techniques similar to Japanese paper-cut art usually called Kirie (Kiri-e = cut-pictures) , and sent to into a myriad of wave patterns, or set apart again with light and shadow. These simple drawings transformed into intriguing new forms that cause the eyes to dance.

More recently I’ve created a group called Mass where large swaths of color swim commingle in midair to wake the senses. Enjoy!

GROUP EXHIBITS

1992 – Bobby-Lou Hargis Gallery, City of Industry, Ca
1995 – Present RESIDENT No.9 GALLERY, Sacramento, Ca
1995 – “Pink Frowns”, Private Collection
!999 – A Still Life Gallery, Sacramento, Ca
2005 – Gregory Barton Gallery, Sacramento, Ca
2007 – 1st Annual Fundraiser, for the Sojourner Truth Multicultural Arts Center’s Duke Ellington Art Exhibition, Sacramento, Ca
2008–Agora Gallery, 530 West 25th Street, New York, NY
2008 – Marco Fuoco Gallery, Sacramento, Ca.
2008-09 – Fe Gallery, Sacramento, Ca.

AWARDS

Winner of the Chiaroscuro Jury Art Competition August 2007. It's announced on the website: http://www.artistsemerge.org