Meet Joel Coplin and Jo-Ann Lowney of Lowney and Coplin Studios & Gallery 119

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joel Coplin and Jo-Ann Lowney.

Joel and Jo-Ann, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I drove a horse and carriage in Central Park while studying at the Art Students League in New York City. On a wonderful spring afternoon, I gave a carriage ride to a beautiful lady who turned out to be an artist as well, and we have been painting together ever since. That was 35 years ago.

We both studied with the premiere classicist Frank Mason and became immersed in the methods and materials of the old masters. In the early 80’s we moved to a historic art community founded in the early 30s near the Superstition Mountains in Arizona where we began our professional careers.

Using what we learned at the league coupled with our new and exotic surroundings we began to produce a fusion of classical and southwestern metaphorical themes. We worked and resided in Bonneville as we affectionately called the community, near Apache Junction and became represented by local Scottsdale galleries and slowly built our careers.

Our works are included in the collections of The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, The Tucson Art Museum, The ASU Art Museum, The Plotkin Museum, as well as the city of Phoenix where the 6 foot by 25 foot mural Metroasis the history of the City of Phoenix, hangs permanently in the Phoenix City Hall.

In 2018, we bought a warehouse in downtown Phoenix and started the Lowney Coplin studios and the Gallery 119. There we’ve begun a new era in our painting using the energy of the inner city as inspiration. There we show our own work as well as local artists and performers with similar visions.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It once was much easier to approach galleries than it is now. Back in the early 8o’s people in the commercial end of the art world,(out here anyway) were generally supportive and approachable. Now, right on their websites, they state “we are not accepting unsolicited portfolios at this time.

Your submissions will not be returned and please do not call the gallery.” That’s because they have been flooded with artists seeking representation burying them under mountains of manila envelopes and clogging up their email files.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Lowney and Coplin Studios & Gallery 119 – what should we know?
We are painters, and we love to paint. We paint Plein aire landscapes. There is something wonderful in translating a beautiful vista or the shape of a gnarled oak on a two-dimensional surface. We paint still lives because we love the way light plays and falls on objects creating five planes of light.

However, mostly I am known for my large figurative, allegorical paintings and Jo-Ann is known for her metaphoric compositions of objects in multi-layered oils. We try to express visually our reactions to being alive in the second decade of the 21st century.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
The Phoenix art scene is in flux and is in constant motion. Neighborhoods that were considered dangerous were perfect for artists and startup galleries to move in because of affordability. That lead to developers seeing opportunities and what was once affordable suddenly became desirable, and the artists had to move on.

Roosevelt Row, Grand Avenue, The Warehouse district all are examples of the mercurial nature of the arts in Phoenix. We have recently purchased an old warehouse building in south central west close to the Capital which was affordable for us. Along with Jefferson west to the capital are derelict but beautiful buildings ripe for the economic development of this special part of town.

Pricing:

• 200 to 20,000

Contact Info:

• Website: www.joelcoplinfineart
• Phone: 602 576 0338
• Email: joel.coplin@gmail.com; jolow999@msn.com
• Facebook: Joel Coplin

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