JOYCE WELLMAN
202-441-5533
artworks@joycewellman.com
Joyce Wellman is an accomplished mid-career artist who engages in persistent experimentation with ideas, media, composition, and materials. The body of her abstract art references the subconscious mind and explores the language of dreams. Blending the genres of painting, drawing, and printmaking, she has pushed her ideas and concepts to generate new pathways of exploration. Her work invites the viewer into an enigmatic conversation with the unconscious.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024: Breaking it Down: Conversations from the Vault - Group exhibition, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC. Phillips Collection Member Magazine Spotlight.
2024: Reverberations: The Butterfly Effect of Michael B. Platt - Group exhibition, Brentwood Arts Exchange, Brentwood, MD.
2024: Where We At, Black Women Artists. Now! “Paper Works” - Group exhibition, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York, NY.
2024: Forward Ever—Celebrating Where We At Black Women Artists (1971-Now) - Group exhibition, Weeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn, NY.
2024: Robert Blackburn: Creating Art, Creating Community - Group exhibition (online), Dolan/Maxwell, Philadelphia, PA.
2023: Decade of Tradition: Highlights from the Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Collection – Group exhibition, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA.
2023: POUR, TEAR, CARVE: MATERIAL POSSIBiLITIES – Group exhibition, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC.
2022: Imagine: Celebrating Black Female Creativity – Group exhibition, Featherstone Center for the Arts, Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. Curated by Adrienne L. Childs.
2020: Free Stylin’ - Homage to Ed Clark, Works by Joyce Wellman – Solo exhibition, Foundry Gallery, Washington, DC; Brochure. Gallery Talk with Michelle Parkerson. Review, Washington Post: In the galleries: A confection of a show that draws on the richness of Vermeer
2019: Prints & Artists: WD Printmaking Workshop 1970–Present – Group exhibition, Alper Initiative for Washington Art, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington DC; Catalogue.
2018: Dancing On The Edge of The Abyss: Abstraction by African American Women Artists in the Cochran Collection – Group exhibition, The Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA; Catalogue.
2018: Latitude: The Washington Women’s Arts Center 1975-1987 – Group exhibition, Alper Initiative for Washington Art, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC; Françoise Yohalem, Curator.
2018: Coded Messages – Solo exhibition, Lockhart Gallery, State University of New York, Geneseo, NY; Brochure.
2018: Number Works: Homage to Women in Mathematics – Solo exhibition, Harmony Hall Regional Arts Center Gallery, Prince George’s County, MD; Brochure.
2017: LIFE ON THE CANAL THEN BY ARTISTS NOW – Group exhibition, Erie Canal Museum, Syracuse, NY; Traveling exhibition.
2016: Changing the Subject: The Women Artists of the Experimental Printmaking Institute – Group exhibition, New Door Creative Gallery, Baltimore, MD.
2016: Circle of Friends – Group exhibition, Alper Initiative for Washington Art, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC; Catalogue.
2014: Facing the Rising Sun & Photographs by Inge Hardison – Group exhibition, Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, New York, NY.
2012: Intuitive Journeys – Solo exhibition, Heurich Gallery, Washington, DC; Review, Washington Post: Whirlwind tour through the District’s many painting exhibits.
2011: In Unison: 20 Washington, DC Artists – Group exhibition, The Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC; Review, Washington Post: Kreeger displays Washington artists' prints.
2009: Tradition Redefined: The Larry and Brenda Thompson Collection of African American Art – Group exhibition, traveled to: David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD; Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA; Knoxville Museum, Knoxville, TN; Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL; St. Louis University Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO.
2009: Art in Embassies Exhibition: US Embassy Georgetown, Guyana – Group exhibition; Sarah Tanguy, Curator; Brochure.
2009: Rules of Engagement – Group exhibition, University of Maryland University College, College Park, MD. Review, Washington Informer: Abstract in Numbers: The Art of Joyce Wellman.
2007: Set Theory: Prints, Paintings & Drawings – Solo exhibition, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AK; Catalogue.
2005: Chance and Other Musings – Solo exhibition, North Carolina A&T State Museum Gallery, Greensboro, NC. Review, Greensboro Triad: Artist explores, embraces unknown. Video production: Autumn Passages.
2005: Passages – Solo exhibition, New Door Creative Gallery, Baltimore, MD.
2004: Chance and Other Musings – Solo exhibition, Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, New York, NY; Review, New York Times: Art in Review.
2003: 1st East African Women Artists Invitational Exhibition – Group exhibition, Museum Art Gallery, Kenya National Museum, Nairobi, Kenya; Sponsored by US Embassy Nairobi, Kenya.
2000: Magnetic Forces and Magic Scripts: New Works by Joyce Wellman – Solo exhibition, Dillard University, Coke Fine Arts Center Gallery, New Orleans, LA.
1999: Present Tense: Linda Day Clarke, Michael Platt & Joyce Wellman – Group exhibition, Rockville Arts Place, Rockville, MD; Jack Rasmussen, Curator. Review, Rockville Gazette: Diversity, individuality and excellence at RAP.
1998–99: Chance & Necessity – Group exhibition, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD; Power Boothe, curator; Traveling exhibit: St. Mary's College, St. Mary’s City, MD; McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA; Kennedy Museum of Art, Ohio University, Athens, OH; Catalogue. Review, Baltimore City Paper: Driven to Abstraction: Local Artists Keep Nonfigurative Art Alive. Review, Washington Post: It All Adds Up: From Twenty Strong Works, One Strong Show.
1992: Works on Paper: Prints by Stephanie Pogue and Joyce Wellman – Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Brochure.
1990–1991: Gathered Visions: Selected Works by African American Women Artists – Group exhibition, Anacostia Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Catalogue. Review, Art Papers.
1989: From the Anacostia to the Potomac: Art and Ideology in the Washington Area – Group exhibition, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC; Catalogue.
1986: Let the Art be First – Group exhibition, Washington Women's Arts Center. Washington, DC. Brochure.
1985: Joyce Wellman Printmaker – Solo exhibition, Gallery 900, University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC.
PUBLICATIONS
2019: The World of Interiors Magazine: Artistic Impressions; June–November editions.
2015: Callaloo Art #2, A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters, vol 38, no. 4; The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
2011: In Unison: 20 Washington, DC Artists; Catalogue, The Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC.
2007: Set Theory: Prints, Paintings & Drawings; Catalogue, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AK.
2005: The Rhythm of Structure: Math Art in the African Diaspora; International Review of
African American Art, Hampton University Press, Hampton, VA, vol. 19, no. 3.
Eds. 1994, 2003: African American Art and Artists; Dr. Samella Lewis, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
ACHIEVEMENTS
2019: Vice-Chair, Board; Humanities Council of Washington, DC
2018: Curator; Prince Georges County, MD. Annual juried art exhibition.
2017: 2021 Mayoral Appointee; Humanities Council DC.
2014–15: Fellowship; DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Washington, DC.
2007 and 2009: Artist in Residence; Blue Mountain Center, Blue Mountain, NY.
2005: Tague–Blackburn Visiting Artist; Experimental Printmaking Institute, Lafayette College, Easton, PA.
2005: Visiting Artist in Residence; North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC.
2003: Artist in Residence; 1st East African Women Artist Workshop & Exhibition, Lake Naivasha, Kenya; Sponsored by the US Embassy, Nairobi and the Kuona Trust of the National Museum, Nairobi, Kenya.
2003: Panelist; Memory, Metaphor and Gender: Black Women in Art and Visual Culture; Annual James A. Porter Colloquium, Howard University, Washington, DC.
2001: Artist in Residence; The Groton School, Groton, MA.
1999: Curator; Free State IX: A Drawing Slam!, Rockville Arts Place, Rockville, MD.
1998: Curator; Spring Solos, Arlington Art Center, Arlington, VA.
1997: St. James Guide to Black Artists, St. James Press in Association with Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY.
1996–97: Awards Panelist; DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Washington, DC.
1995 & 1997 Awards Panelist; Arlington Commission on the Arts, Arlington, VA.
1986: Ford Foundation Study Fellowship; Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD.
1986 & 1989: Fellowship; DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Washington, DC.
COLLECTIONS
Public:
Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
Fine Arts Program Collection, Federal Reserve Board, Washington, DC
American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, WD Printmaking Workshop Historic Collection, Washington, DC
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, DC
Permanent Collection, US Embassy Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa
Permanent Collection, US Embassy Nairobi, Kenya
Georgia Museum of Art; Athens, GA
US Library of Congress, Division of Photography and Prints, Washington, DC
The David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Washington Convention Center Art Collection, Washington, DC
Print Collection of the New York Public Library, New York, NY
North Carolina A&T State University Museum Collection, Greensboro, NC
James Lewis Museum of Art, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, Archives for Printmaking Studios, Rutgers, NJ
Center for American Material Culture Studies, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Emory University, Michael C. Carlos Museum, Cochran Collection of African American Art
Private:
Private Collection, La Grange, GA
Ariel Capital Management, Chicago, IL
Private Collection, CT
David Driskell Collection, Hyattsville, MD
Connie Lee Corporation, Washington, DC
Private Collection, College Park, MD
Private Collection, Newark, DE
Private Collection, Washington, DC
EDUCATION
1998: MFA Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
1974–75,1979: Bob Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York, NY
1980–81: Krishna Reddy Color Print Atelier, New York University, New York, NY
1985–86: Maryland Institute College of Art Study Fellowship, Baltimore, MD. Funded by the Ford Foundation.
1977: MA Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
1972: BS Education, City College of New York, NY
PRESENTATIONS
September 7, 2024: Washington Print Club Studio Visit.