Joanne Schoener Scott

acrylic, collage, oil

Artist Statement

I come from a mixed cultural background: part Hispanic and part Caribbean. As a child I lived in South America and Europe before immigrating to the United States. Starting out with a BFA in Art, my career was directed into the Graphic Design field until I started my family. I have lived in the Northwest for five years with my husband and two children. Color is deeply rooted in my background and it becomes a vehicle to express what I feel about my subject. Design still penetrates my work; I tend to give way to pattern and color, letting realism take a lesser role. This is evident in my portraits with fabric collages. For the floral pieces and landscapes, I start with one of my own photographs, looking beyond the surface to study the objects in depth. The camera lens captures the subject in its natural perfection. This purity can be obscured behind layers of electronic media, so the image I photograph stays in its original form and evolves into a painting. My large paintings are mostly done in acrylic, overlaid with oil pastel. In my smaller drawings I use watercolor and Prismacolor pencils. With vibrant hues and intimate closeness I hope the viewer will rediscover the beauty that is all around us in nature and in our human relationships.

Samples of Joanne's work