Meet Joanne Gallery

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joanne Gallery.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
The first memory of being an artist was when I was in kindergarten, and I came home and drew all over my bedroom walls with crayons. I got into trouble. I loved to color and draw. I won two scholarships from high school one for art and other academic. I chose the academic one because my father wanted me to be a lawyer. I graduated from ASU with a Business Degree and moved to New Zealand where I ran gyms. I returned to art when I moved to Los Angeles taking art classes at UCLA. When I had children, I took more classes in art. My friends and clients started to buy my art, and I decided to get a website in 2000. I was doing art festivals, art shows, competitions and selling in art galleries. I painted a fridge for SRP for Country Thunder which was amazing. All of the performers signed my fridge.

2013 was a pivotal year. I got a divorce, and I found out I was a type 1 diabetic like my father and my uncle. Everything changed, and I found when I painted it calmed me down including the sugars in my blood. I left Arizona for a couple of years to Philadelphia where I continued to paint and sell my art and learn how to deal with my diabetes. I returned to the West because my mom was ill. Presently, I am entering every competition and art show, where I don’t need a tent, to get my art into the public eye. My art was recently in the Phoenix Art Museum. I was honored to be there. I love my job.

Please tell us about your art.
Scottsdale artist Joanne Gallery has been painting professionally since 2000. She has experimented with acrylic paint and added ink through the years. The image is drawn out first. The canvas is flat, and she uses water and pours acrylic and ink on sections of the image which is allowed to dry. Sometimes texture and alcohol are added. The focal point is painted and not poured.

Joanne’s favorite subjects deal with nature and animals. Her paintings are representational with vibrant pure colors using an abstract technique.

In 2010 her painting Mahala made the cover of the Vortex, an art magazine. Also in 2010, SRP, an electric company, commissioned her to paint on an old refrigerator as part of an advertising campaign to save energy. She painted a horse on the fridge and SRP took it to the concert “Country Thunder” in Florence, AZ where the musicians signed the fridge including Keith Urban and Willy Nelson. She has been in galleries and art shows throughout Arizona, Santa Fe, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Atlantic City and Auckland, New Zealand. Recently she had 20 pieces on display at the Ice House in Phoenix and was in the Elemental show at the Phoenix Art Museum.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
The business side of art is challenging for many artists. I would rather paint, but I need to keep my collectors and followers informed.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I am in various shows around the valley. I show my art at the Arabian Horse Show in Scottsdale, I was in the Ice House Gallery in Phoenix, and I was in a show at the Phoenix Art Museum. I will be in Cave Creek, AZ on April 12 at the Sonoran Arts League at Stagecoach Village with my art. I keep my followers informed on Instagram under https://www.instagram.com/joemaxartist, Facebook JLGallery https://www.facebook.com/JoanneGallery. They can contact me at joannegallery@yahoo.com.

Contact Info:

• Address: https://www.instagram.com/joemaxartist
  Facebook JLGallery https://www.facebook.com/JoanneGallery
  email joannegallery@yahoo.com
  480 773 2184
• Website: https://www.instagram.com/joemaxartist
• Phone: 480 773 2184
• Email: joannegallery@yahoo.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joemaxartist
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoanneGallery
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoanneGallery

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