JOAN STUART ROSS
Color dynamics, layers of visual meaning, and a celebratory attitude are the themes of Joan Stuart Ross’s art. She is inspired by the scientific method as she looks for answers to problems of the eye and mind. Trial, error, chance and risk lead her work to celebrate light over opacity. She reinvents explored shapes and colors as she looks forward to new discoveries.
Joan combines and varies oil, encaustic, and embedded collage in her work to reveal, hide, or hint at what’s on and underneath the surface. Her paintings’ layered forms bear a long-time interest in the lyrical energy of the poplar trees by Seattle’s Ship Canal and consideration of the luminous oyster shells near her Willapa Bay studio. Mark, rhythm, repetition, and pattern reveal metaphorical form: the poplar, hydrangea, shell, grid, knot, and implied text suggest a symbolic undercurrent.
Education
University of Washington, Seattle, WA:
Graduate Study: Education, Creative Writing
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA:
Master of Art, Master of Fine Arts
Yale Divinity School and
Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT
Connecticut College, New London, CT:
Bachelor of Arts
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Massachusetts College of Art&Design, Boston
Artists Studied Under
Keith Achepohl
Josef Albers
Marguerite Hanson
Mauricio Lasansky
Richard B. Lukosius
William Ashby McCloy
Virginia Myers
Nathan Oliveira
Gabor Peterdi
Jack Tworkov
Museum Collections
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Salem, OR
Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA
National Museum of Women in the Arts, D.C.
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Tacoma Art Musem, Tacoma, WA
Wing Luke Museum, Seattle, WA
Collections
Alexis Hotel
Bank of America
Bank of California
Bellingham Technical College
Capital One
City of Seattle
Davis, Wright, Tremaine
Edmonds College
Eisenhower, Carlson, Newlands, Foster, Pepper
Harborview Medical Center
Harris/Abramowitz
IBM
Island Hospital
Junior League of Seattle
King County Arts Commission (4Culture)
Madison Hotel
NBC
North Seattle College
Oregon State Printing Plant
Overlake Hospital
Paul Allen Collection
Pan Pacific Hotel
Pierce County District Court
Portland State Office Building
Sheraton Hotels
Skagit Valley College
State of Washington
Swedish Orthopedic Institute
US West
University of Illinois
University of Iowa
University of Washington, Suzzallo Library
Western Washington University
Willamette University
Body of Work
1973-80: Paintings from Nature (available)
1973-80: Poplars by the Ship Canal (available)
1977-current: Monotype/collage (available)
1981-83: Silver Fox (available)
1981-88: Play Within a Play (available)
1981-88: Gray's Brain (available)
1981-88: Jungle Fruits (available)
1993-00: Work from Rome (sold out)
2000-current: "Text" Paintings (available)
2012-current: Layered Grids (available)
2016-current: Encaustic Collage (available)
2017-current: Oyster Portraits (available)
2018-current: Evolution & Prescience (available)
2019-current: Smoke Tree (available)
2020-current: Crossword Drawings (available)
2020-current: Brave Space (available)
2022-current: Phenomena (available)
2023-current: Northern Lights (available)