Joan Elliott has a process-oriented approach towards painting, working with both geometric patterning and landscape imagery. Inspired by recent travels to Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Uzbekistan, she has researched and documented a wide variety of geometric patterning onsite. She layers bold patterns over loosely depicted landscapes, resulting in paintings both delicate and powerful, natural, and densely graphic. Elliott states, “The surfaces are slowly built, layer after layer, with broad paint application and selective removal—drawing and etching into wet paint and intermittently sanding to build a translucent skin and tactile experience.”
Reflecting on the finished work in a recent artist statement, Elliott notes “the resulting mandala-like images act as radiant structures. Some are still and contemplative, others subtly pulsate with kaleidoscopic energy. Becoming infinity fields of natural repetition, the paintings present a continuous rhythm to quiet the mind.”
Elliott received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University (1978). Residing in Richmond, VA, she has taught at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for over 25 years. She is a Franz and Virginia Bader Fund Grant award recipient (2013).
