about 

Joan Maureen Collins

Joan has gained the attention of local and international private collectors.  Her current and planned exhibitions for 2019 include Urban Ethos at the Olney Gallery in Phoenix, April 2019; the Mayo Clinic Loaned Artwork Program late 2019; and SWING November 14, 2019, a co-exhibition with photographer Elaine Kessler. Her other solo and group exhibitions include the Juried Artist SeeMe Digital Exhibition, The Louvre, Paris, France; the Xanadu Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona; the Gallery on First, Phoenix, Arizona; the UN3 Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona; and the Sonoran Arts League Hidden in the Hills Studio Tour, Cave Creek, Arizona; Harumi Yoga+ Community Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Desert to Sea, her first international showing with co-exhibitor, and Irish artist Majella O’Neill Collins, in West Cork, Ireland. Joan has authored two books featuring her art, writing and photography: “Blue Rope,” and “Millennium Maiden.”

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Joan’s painting is physical and messy. She paints like a sculptor, moving, adding, and scraping paint around the canvas.  This technique results in striking contours made of heavy, opaque color and texture against thin, filmy transparency.  She also makes many of her own brushes for effect, using feathers, ropes, wire, and other desert and beach findings.  Joan compares her creative process to jumping off a cliff into an abyss, then floating in the adrenaline of the experience.

Photographed by Elaine Kessler