Joyce
Wellman is a Brooklynite and native New Yorker who made a
seminal decision to settle in Washington D.C. in 1981. Joyce's artistic
development, likewise, involves a personal journey from the craft
of the printmaker to the broader canvas and full palette of the abstract
painter.
The
portrait of the artist as a serious student of the art is a persistent
motif for Wellman. Her journey to convey and execute her ideas using
abstraction began in the early 70's. After completing her bachelor's
degree in Education at City College in 1972, she received her Master's
in Education from the University of Massachusetts in 1977.
Featured
in 1985, Volume 6, #4
During
this period, she began studying printmaking with printmaker and sculptor
Valerie Maynard at the Studio Museum of Harlem, then later at Bob
Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop in Manhattan (1973-74), and continued
with Khrisna Reddy at his Color Print Atelier at New York University
(1978-81). By 1985, she had become a skilled printmaker who was included
in publications, exhibitions and community art projects. In 1986,
Wellman received a Ford Foundation Fellowship to study painting in
the Maryland Institute College of Art's Graduate school for a year.
She returned to the Institute in 1996, again on fellowship, to complete
her MFA at its Mt. Royal School of Art.
Relationships have continued to be fundamental to Wellman's work:
they have been pivotal in her family and personal life and, not surprisingly,
figure as ubiquitous elements in her paintings. Joyce has been particularly
fortunate in her artistic mentors and friends who helped herto grow throughout her artistic career.
Thunder
Blues, 1998 Acrylic on canvas. 72"x60"
Since the late 1970's, Wellman's prints, drawings and paintings have
been regularly exhibited and have received critical review in art
publications nationally and internationally. In 1999 she was featured
in a traveling exhibition "Chance and Necessity: Abstract
Painting in Washington Area" Chance and Necessity traveled
around the region and in Ohio. A catalogue accompanied the show.
In 2003 Joyce was invited to Kenya to particpate in the First East African Women Artists Residency and Exhibition and to teach a master printmaking class to a group of young artists at the Kuona Trust Studios in Nairobi all sponsored by the US Embassy, Kenya and the Kuona Trust of Nairobi.
In the Winter of 2005 she was the Tague/Robert Blackburn Visiting Artist at the Experimental Printmaking Institute of Lafayette College in Easton Pennsylvania. There she created the abstract color etchings for Steal Away, an interdisciplinary artist book connecting visual art with the spoken word and song through an audio CD that accompanies Steal Away.
Joyce was a 2005-2006 artist In Residency at the North Carolina A&T State University Greensboro NC, and was commissed to create Autumn Passages a painting installed in the lobby of the university's New Sceience Building.
Joyce makes her home and studio in Washington DC.
Set Theory: Paintings, Prints & Drawings of Joyce WellmanUniversity of Arkansas, Little Rock AK 1/16/07 - 3/7/07
Not An Ocean Between Us: Voices of Women from Africa and the African Disapora Diggs Gallery5/30/06 - 3/17/07
Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, NC Holding Our Own: Selections from the Collectors Club of Washington, University of Md. 10/29/06 - 1/4/07
Telling Their Story: Artists Books The Noyes Muesum of Art, OceanVille, NJ 9/30/06 -12/10/06
News Briefs
2007
Wellman selected for Art in Public Places program. She creates "Balence Master 3" for The Eastern Market Windows Project. On view 5/15/07 - 5/15/09 Washinton, DC
Look for Wellman's works on paper at Weber Fine Arts - Greenwich Conn. & Scarsdale NY
Wellman joins Hearne Fine Arts -Little Rock Arkansas 501 372-6822 ,
"Autumn Passages" A video documenting Wellman's residency and public art commission at the NC A&T State University Greensboro in 2005 is a featured short in the2nd Annual Heritage Film & Video Festival, March 31th 2007 Prince George's Community College's Rennie Forum, Largo Md
Wellman gives Artist Talk - "My Life as an Artist" Philander Smith College, Little Rock Arkansas
Wellman interviewed for Women's History Month on WPFW Fm Washington, DC
May 5th Joyce Interviewed on "In Our Voices" -WPFW 89.3 FM radio. Host Nkenje Toure interviews Joyce about Steal Away, her inter-disciplinary artist book.
2006
New York Public Library Aquires color etching "Journey Thru Migration" via a donation. Its added to their fine print collection
2005
Wellman creates - Steal Away an artist book at the Experimental Printmaking Institute, Lafayette College, PA. as Teague Blackburn Visiting ArtistSteal Away exhibited 2006-2007 @: The Noyes Museum, NJ, Winston-Salem State University, Winston Salem, NC & University of Arkansas Little Rock Art Gallery
NEW PUBLICATIONS :
Wellman's work featured in the following publications
Creating Their Own Image: The History of African American Women Artists by Lisa Farrington, Oxford University Press, London
2005 pg.198 ISBN 0-19-516721-X
"Images of America:African American Voices: Selections from The Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Darrell Walker" The Walton Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas. 2004. Catalogue US. ISBN 0-974431400-0
Collecting Limited Edition Prints: Contemporary African American Printmakers; By Dennis Forbes ISBN# 0-9745509-0-6, 2004
