“I paint like a sculptor, moving, adding, and scraping paint around the canvas, resulting in striking contours made of heavy opaque color and texture against a thin, filmy transparency.”

 

Joan Maureen Collins is an expressive abstract painter living and working in Scottsdale, Arizona. She has been a painter for twenty-eight years and a professional artist for twenty years. Joan studied art at Scottsdale Community College, Scottsdale Artist School and is an alumnus of the Creative Visionary Program. She has exhibited in numerous solo and group shows in Arizona and across the country. 

 

Joan has been featured in the Phoenix Art Museum's Artist Spotlight program. She recently showed her works Art Basel, Switzerland in May 2023. In 2022, her paintings were featured at the SCOPE Miami Contemporary Art Fair in Miami, FL and exhibits in New York City in 2022 and 2023. Her work has been accepted into numerous juried exhibits across the country, most recently in Texas. She has also exhibited internationally, including in Ireland, where she held sold-out shows. Her paintings are held in numerous private collections in Arizona, across the country, and internationally.

 

Joan’s observations of the natural world, and the inspiration she receives from spending time in nature, have been a driving force behind her creativity. Her powerful and soulful abstract interpretations of these impressions of the land remind us of the fragility of our natural world. In a recent series, titled Entangled Beauty, the artist hones in on the contrasts she has observed. Joan’s creation of Entangled Beauty included “painting” empty canvases by washing them in Traligagh Bay in Toe Head, Ireland. Back in her Arizona studio, the unrolled canvases revealed dried impressions of water, seaweed and the organic inks she had applied. She interpreted those works by adding abstract strokes, while purposely leaving haunting traces of our fragile world on the canvas. The artist often invents her own painting tools from found materials such as feathers and sticks which were used in the creation of Entangled Beauty.

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ARTIST STATEMENT

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“For the past twenty years, I have had the privilege of working as a renewable energy expert. Through this challenging position, I have traveled the globe, gaining expertise and discussing the future of Mother Earth with fellow colleagues. From this vantage point, I indulged in the diversity of the landscape, comprehended the earth’s fragility, and felt the allure of its beauty. My memories from wandering the world are seared in my mind and soul. These soulful impressions seep through my canvases like negatives processed in a dark room. Abstraction is the visual language in which I express my love for nature. This extends to revealing the gripping essence of natural and urban landscapes in abstract form. My passion for nature and the environment is also reflected in my painting process where I often invent my own painting tools from found materials such as feathers, branches, cactus spines, and more. I create my work in a series, where each painting coalesces around a theme. The series are titled to invite openness, and I create each body of work with no agenda, mission, or statement; to share the creative impressions from my life’s journey and to paint on the canvas what has been written on my soul. As such, I invite the viewer into my world, the worlds that I have visited, and my interpretations of them. Finally, and after extensive layering of materials, the painting will reveal itself and the artistic adventure is done. My soul soars, my mind is emptied, and I know it is complete. Then on to my next creative journey...”

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Education

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1984-1989                               B.S. Business Administration, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

 

1995-2000                               Scottsdale Community College, Scottdale, AZ

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Art Fairs

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June 15-18, 2023                     ARTBOX.PROJECT Basel 2.0, EuroAirport Basel, Switzerland

 

Nov. 29 – De.4, 2022               SCOPE, Miami Beach International Contemporary Art Show, See.Me Gallery, Miami Beach, FL

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Solo Exhibitions

 

Oct. 6- Nov. 5, 2023                 Entangled Beauty, Jen Tough Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

 

Jan. 1 – Feb.  28, 2020            Gently, Mayo Clinic Art Program, Phoenix,AZ

 

September 2020                      In Motion In Stillness, Artists in Arizona Virtual Walled Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ

 

Oct. – Dec. 2019                      One More Step, Mayo Clinic Art Program, Scottsdale, AZ

 

Oct. 2016                                 In Flow, Harumi Yoga & Community Gallery Scottsdale, AZ

 

 

Two Person Exhibitions

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April 2019                                Urban Ethos, Olney Gallery, Phoenix, AZ

 

Nov.  2010-2-15, 2017-18        Hidden in the Hills, Sonoran Arts League, Cave Creek, AZ

 

July 24 – Oct. 31, 2016            Desert to Sea, Inchydoney Island Hotel & Spa Gallery, Clonakilty, West Cork, Ireland

 

May 2009                                 Connected, UN3 Gallery, Phoenix, AZ

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Group Exhibitions

                              

March 27 - May 13, 2023         A Clearing, VAA Juried Exhibition, Sawyer Yards, Houston, TX

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March 21 - May 26, 2023         Sky Road, The Yard Lincoln Square, Upper West Side, New York City, NY

 

Nov. 1 – Feb. 28, 2022            Sky Road, The Yard Lower East Side, New York City, NY

 

Sept. 23 – Oct. 4, 2022            Roots, Gallery Artes Azulejo, Curated by See.Me Gallery, Lower East Side, New York City, NY

 

Feb. 1 – Dec. 31, 2022            Surrender, Let Go, Chroma Collective Gallery, Online, Scottsdale, AZ

 

Aug. 15 - Oct. 31, 2021            That Friday Feeling, Portland on the Park Cycle 7, Phoenix, AZ

 

April 2021                                Spring Forward, Artists in Arizona, Online, Phoenix, AZ 

 

April 24 - May 15, 2021            Unsurfaced City, FoundRE Contemporary Gallery, Phoenix, AZ

 

March 2021                             Art Meets Fashion, See.Me Gallery and Mint & Rose Retailer New York City, NY & Barcelona, Spain

 

Sept. 1 – Dec. 31, 2020           RAA&M National, Rockport Art Association & Museum. Rockport, MA

 

Oct.  2020                                Art from the Heart, Free Arts for Abused Children Auction, Phoenix, AZ

 

Jan.  2020                                New Year, New Art, Artists in Arizona Online Group Show Scottsdale, AZ

 

Oct. 2019                                 Impressions of Arizona, Artists in Arizona Online Group Show, Phoenix, AZ

 

July 2015                                 Exposure, Louvre Digital Photography Exhibition, Paris, France

 

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Selected Bibliographies

 

October 13, 2023                     Mention, Pasatiempo, The New Mexican, Santa Fe, NM

 

October 2023                           Entangled Beauty, Catalogue Essay, Lauren Edgar, Scottsdale, AZ

 

July/August 2023                      Interview, Studio Session, Phoenix Magazine Best of the Valley, Phoenix, AZ

 

Sept. 7, 2021                           Interview, Artist Spotlight, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ

 

Aug. 16, 2021                          Meet Joan Maureen Collins, Shoutout Arizona, Phoenix, AZ

 

Jan. 1, 2021                             In Motion, In Stillness, Catalogue Essay, Artists in Arizona, Scottsdale, AZ

 

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Published Art Books

 

Sept. 18, 2014                         Blue Rope Contemporary Expressions, Author Joan Maureen Collins, Scottsdale, AZ

 

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Residencies + Teachings

 

Jan. 2019 - Dec. 2020              Davinci’s Whisper, Helios Chorale Artist in Residence, Phoenix, AZ

 

Oct. 2012- March 2013            Strength in Women, Phoenix Women’s Shelter, Phoenix, AZ

 

 

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