Featured Artist
JOAN MONROE
Click on the slideshow above to view the full image
Art has always been part of Joan’s life. From early childhood, in the San Francisco Bay area, she had to have a pencil, a paint brush or a piece of clay in her hands. In grammar school she gained acceptance to classes not usually taught to youth. After finishing Head Royce Academy, winning national awards for her artwork, she studied at UC Berkeley and gained more awards while gaining her BFA. Then, on to California College of Arts and Crafts. She has worked in several media – oil, acrylic, watercolor, ink, glass and ceramics. The discovery of French alcohol-based dyes on silks was a natural. The medium had been an art form that originated in the Russian Court and was lost to the Bolshevik Revolution. Her connection to this process is fascinating since her lineage is of the old Russian Court. Joan’s work has appeared in shows all over the US and is in collections on four continents.
About Joan...
Art is my heart and soul. It is what consumes me, it is my life breath, my addiction. I love the tactile nature of art. Regardless of the “medium of the moment,” I strive to capture some of the essence of my subjects and hope to convey it. I am most drawn to endangered animals, realizing that we all are here for only a blink of an eye. My process has developed into a style as distinct as the creatures and participants of life it conveys.
I have endeavored to explore and present my silk work as a medium in a new, purely American and slightly different bent than previously on the scene. So, though it is the nature of an artist to venture into new territory, I always come back to working with the silks to see if I can push it just a bit further. I am delighted and grateful that my work is collected around the globe and my wish is that it will bring joy to all who own it.