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. As she harkens back to the shapes and colors that she has explored over the years, her artwork looks forward to the invention of new forms and hues.
Joan enjoys reading about color’s sources and she views its exploration by other artists, past and present. She has been inspired by artists who use color as emotion and as symbol of psyche and spirit.
Joan combines and varies her media. Oil, encaustic, and embedded collage cross and convene 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 by an ongoing consideration of the luminous oyster shell 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 Arts, Masters of Fine Arts
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 Community College
Eisenhower, Carlson, Newlands, Foster, Pepper
Harborview Medical Center
Harris/Abramowitz
IBM
Island Hospital
Junior League of Seattle
King County Arts Commission
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: Yellow (available)