JOAN MAUREEN COLLINS
Joan Maureen Collins lives and paints in her studio, in the heart of the vibrant Scottsdale art scene in Arizona. 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 applies lines that some have said look like veins or pathways throughout her work. She also makes many of her own brushes for effect, using feathers, ropes, wire, and other desert and beach findings. Joan creates painterly surfaces primarily with acrylics on canvas, paper, and board – both small works and very large pieces that invite appreciators to walk into and experience.
She focuses on abstract designs, but they are always grounded and inspired by the transcendence of natural and urban spaces. Her paintings have been referred to by curators as "highly energized landscapes and reflective space-scapes." Curator and Director of Artists in Arizona Lauren Edgar noted, "For us, Joan's paintings create a sense of freedom, as with each brushstroke, she liberates the landscape into abstraction, helping us open our minds to life’s possibilities. Ultimately, Joan Maureen Collins works are about space. Her space, outdoor space, and even our collective space. She doesn’t define it, she liberates it." Joan exhibits her work in domestic and international forums, most recently in the Portland on the Park juried exhibition in Phoenix, Arizona. She is a Phoenix Art Museum spotlighted artist and actively contributes to the community through her art with organizations such as the Mayo Clinic Loaned Artwork Program, Free Arts, an art-based non-profit to benefit and encourage art in children from abusive environments.