STATEMENT:

“If you have ever felt the air of a sun sprayed foggy morning, smelled the earth after a warm rain, or bathed in the light of a sunrise, you can understand what it is I am trying to convey.

Instead of painting things, I paint the spirit of what we see: not the actual earth, sea or sky, but the sensation and radiance of atmosphere.

My work is meant to reflect the natural world with a unique abstract perspective.  Color is used to create an ethereal afterglow which is influenced by the color field style of painting.  The radiant combination of oranges and blues take on an essence of atmosphere.  The space can be vast, it can be quiet, it can be confined or it can be moving.  My work is an emotional response to the landscape.  It is meant for the viewer to experience the energy and tranquility that is found in nature.”

BIOGRAPHY:

Joanne Thorne Arnold’s soothing color field paintings are tapestries of color which have been featured in galleries, in public and private collections throughout the Northeast.  Joanne’s work has matured to new heights in recent years.  She attributes this to having been awarded three competitive painting fellowships over the past six years.  Her most recent fellowship was the summer of 2007 at the Sodus Art Bank in Sodus, New York on Lake Ontario.  It was there she began her current series of work.

Joanne’s other residencies were in 2004 in Ithaca, NY at the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts and in 2002, the Summer Six Painting fellowship at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Joanne lives in Binghamton, NY where the skies and the hills of the Southern Tier of New York serve as an inspiration for her work.  Joanne has a bachelor’s degree in Art Education from the State University of New York at New Paltz and a master’s degree from Elmira College in education and painting.

Click here for the Artist's resume.