Joellyn Duesberry

Joellyn Duesberry[1] (born June 30, 1944) is a landscape artist who works in oils. She divides her time between Millbrook, New York and Denver, Colorado. She says that her paintings echo the work of John Marin and Milton Avery.[2] Of her art, Duesberry says, "I am not interested in a realist painting, I am not interested in an abstract painting. I am interested in the tension."[3]

Early life and education

Joellyn Duesberry was born on June 30, 1944 in Richmond, Virginia.[4] Growing up in rural Virginia instilled in her a love for the land. She said, "All my life I think I've unconsciously tried to re-create the place where bliss or terror first came to me. Both emotions seemed so strong that I had to locate them outside of myself, in the land. This goes back to a childhood habit--of living in rural Virginia and seeking woods and creeks and lakes for solitary refuge; places where I could sketch and paint."[5] She decided to start painting at age ten, and soon thereafter she decided that "Women artists existed and she needed to be among them."[6]

She received a BA with Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, in art history and painting, from Smith College in 1966.[7] In that year she was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. She took her master's degree at New York University Institute of Fine Arts.[7]

Work

She moved to Denver in 1985, and embraced the Colorado landscape in her art.[4] In that year she received an Individual Painting Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.[4]

In 1997, Duesberry won the Benjamin Altman Landscape Prize from the National Academy of Design.[7] While she had a World Views residency with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) from 1998-1999, Duesberry painted city studies in studio space in some vacant offices of the World Trade Center's North Tower.[7] She says that, because of her connection to the World Trade Center, the tone of her painting has saddened since 9/11.[7]

In 2005, a PBS documentary was made of Joellyn Duesberry's life, work, and creative process titled Joellyn Duesberry: Dialogue with the Artist.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Her name is Welsh in origin and is pronounced "Joe-Lynn." See Nott, Robert (August 2002). "Rendering fear into bliss". Pasatiempo.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Duesberry, Joellyn. "About". Joellyn Duesberry.
  3. ↑ Voelz Chandler, Mary (August 11, 2004). "Behind the finish: painter's brush finds bones beneath her vistas". Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colorado. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Brawley Hill, Mary (June 1988). "Joellyn Duesberry". Gerald Peters Gallery, Dallas, Texas.
  5. ↑ Nott, Robert (August 2002). "Rendering fear into bliss". Pasatiempo.
  6. ↑ Schimmel, Julie (1986). Introductory Essay: Joellyn Duesberry. Dallas, Texas: Gerald Peters Gallery. p. 2.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Thompson, Ruthe (November 2002). "The Nature of Abstraction". American Artist: 26–27.

External links