“My work is a constant evolution and is influenced by everything that surrounds me. My family, my friends, my travels, my interactions with people, places and the beauty I see and feel around me.”
Joanna’s expansive imagination was seeded in an upbringing full to the brim with character and beauty, both parents were highly respected designers who imbued a flare for creativity and a passion for adventure into their children. From there curiosity and a penchant for vibrancy has powered a singular, innovative and lifelong creative journey that at every phase has been anchored in a passion for the small details that make up daily life and the world around her.
Joanna’s instinctive reaction is to see the beauty in everything, and it is through a lens of irrepressible optimism that she reacts artistically to her greatest inspirations; first and foremost, her family, seconded by nature and the everyday movements of her life. “Art allows us to look at the world with more imagination, and it can create the first steps that help to connect us with our surroundings and other people, in that sense it encourages humility.” Inspired and enriched by the beauty around her, Joanna has created a practice that is a playful and fresh implementation of creativity and skill, while bringing audiences into direct human contact with human craft of the highest standards.
The success of her eponymous brand, which for 20 years created wearable objet d’art using natural materials and exquisite glass beads, provided the initial breaths of life into her career as a fine artist. With three grown sons flown from the nest, and compelled by the possibilities of the medium of beadwork as a visual language, Joanna has in recent years been pushing her practice in new directions to create sculptural forms that give full articulation to her creative vision, and her mastery of technique which has grown from a long love affair with beadwork.
“I leave a part of my heart on every piece that I create.”
Joanna’s creative process orientates around celebrating the textures of our daily lives, fusing reality and fantasy to draw out the beauty of nature, even in its most mundane forms. Conceptually there is a natural draw to the glass beads that are Joanna’s primary medium; a material made from sand, the earth, which transformed by heat and pigment become the tiny specs of colour that make up her palette. Primarily a colourist and master of texture Joanna’s work is natural and fresh, encompassing an instinctive and playful ease with form and volume. Materials that in their raw form might be discarded by society; fish scales, frog skin, chicken’s feet are brought back to life and purpose, becoming the base point for her creations, and in the hands of this remarkable creative objects of beauty that capture her joy for life.
The action of transmuting simple and individual forms into a more beautiful and meaningful whole is a meditative process for Joanna, through which she shares her intimate connection to her subject matter. “I approach each of my pieces with a sense of reverence and intention. As I work, I imbue positive energy and a desire for the finished piece to bring as much joy to others as its creation does to me.”
Paying careful attention to the smallest element while keeping your eye on the bigger picture is the delicate balance that animates beadwork. Joanna’s tendency towards flamboyant, bold design worked out in delicate glass beads and materials, that often have their own symbolic visual language, is a testament to her genius for story-telling and composition. She is able to create pieces that are full of life and which remain open to interpretation.
An important aspect of Joanna’s practice is her collaboration with women bead-workers who have mastered their skill to the highest level through long term partnership with Joanna. Empowering women with an alternative means to support their precious families while remaining at home also brings the unique stamp of individual handcraft to each final piece. Joanna’s team of craftswomen and craftsmen string components together which form part of the finished piece when it comes together in the studio.
