About the Artist

"I am drawn to paint the startling beauty of the world that surrounds us.  In the midst of all that life presents, what matters most to me is to paint the lands we live in.  I am pulled to those places which possess not only an inherent grace, but also evoke what feels like a connection or an unconscious memory... forests, mountains, rivers, wildflowers, gardens, birds and beautiful skies

Joan's passion is creating art, both in plein air and in the studio, and her images reflect her positive outlook on life and love for the beauty of the earth.  She works in pastel, oil, watercolor and gouche. She is a member of Taos Plein Air Painters.  Her art is in many private collections in the United States and Mexico.

Joan lives in San Cristobal, a small village in northern New Mexico. She and her husband Barry and son Chan moved to this rural valley at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in 1992, after 15 years of living and working in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico in a small museum and guesthouse, Na Bolom. 

After moving to New Mexico, Joan trained and worked as a Licensed Midwife at the Northern New Mexico Birth Center in Taos for the next 19 years, delivering hundreds of babies in Taos and surrounding counties.  It was during her work as a midwife, and the travel involved to arrive at home births at any hour of the day or night, that inspiration for her art was seeded.  "Arriving at a home under the full moon, leaving after the birth at dawn, my heart was open to the splendor that we live in."  When Joan retired from midwifery in 2014, her passion for creating art found the space and time to launch.

Joan and Barry travel by car to southern Mexico every winter to visit family and friends in Chiapas.  They spend time in the Lacandon rain forest with their grandchildren and great grandchildren as well as in the city of San Cristobal de Las Casas.  "When in Mexico, the colors, the flowers, the jungle and people of Chiapas center and inspire me. It is a time of retreat and renewal, an opportunity to remember the past yet feel the present.  I'm so grateful for the time Barry and I have to make this annual trek to our home in Mexico." 

Gallery

Magpie

218 Paseo del Pueblo Norte

Taos, NM  87571

781-248-0166

Studio Tours

Questa Art Tour, Questa, NM 2021-2026

Awards

 2015  Peoples' Choice Award for "Along the Rio Chama" Ocho Gallery, Questa, NM

Juried Shows

2021 Plein Air Painters of New Mexico's National Juried Paint Out, "Paint the Enchanted Circle," with exhibition at

          Wilder Nightingale Gallery and Blumenschein Museum Sept 25 - Oct 12

2020 Western Gallery online show

2020 Plein Air Painters of New Mexico's National Juried Members' Exhibition, Wilder Nightengale, Taos, NM

2019  Plein Air Painters of New Mexico's National Juried Members' Exhibition, Santa Fe, NM

2019  “A Blumy Inspiration - Taos Artists Today”  Blumenschein  Museum  Taos, NM

2019 "Fechin Juried Members Small Works" Taos Art Museum at the Fechin House/Plein Air Painters of New Mexico

Recent Exhibitions

2026 Couse-Sharp Historic Site paint out and pop up show Taos, NM

2025 Sliver Gallery, Taos, NM

2021 -25  Taos Plein Air Painters, Stables Gallery, Taos, NM

2022 Invitational, Bluenshein Museaum, Taos, NM

 2019 Taos Plein Air Painters, Trading Post Cafe, Ranchos de Taos, NM

2019 Plein Air Painters of NM, Blumenschein Museum, Taos NM

2019  Invitational, Taos Visitors Center, Taos, NM 

2018  Invitational, Blumenshein Museum, Taos, NM   

2018  Taos Plein Air Painters, Fine Art Atelier, Taos, NM 

2018  Taos Plein Air Painters, Trading Post Cafe, Ranchos de Taos, NM 

2018  Taos Plein Air Painters, Farm House Cafe, El Prado, NM

2018  Invitational, Taos Visitors Center, Taos, NM 

Education

1997  National College of Midwifery, Taos, NM

1974  Association Montessori International, Teacher Training School, Washington DC

1973  BA  Trinity University, San Antonio, TX