My painting journey has been a transformative testament to my life’s intricacies. As a constant companion since childhood, it’s become a medium of expression, an unfolding narrative deeply woven into my existence, primarily revolving around migration, the immigrant experience, and love. Born in Ethiopia, I’ve been on a 28-year-long odyssey in the U.S. These years have spun a rich, varied tapestry of encounters—embracing challenges, relishing promises, surmounting obstacles, bridging cultural divides, and fighting injustices. In my isolation from family, the local community emerged as a nurturing home away from home.

I’ve been moved by the extraordinary women’s empowerment I’ve observed, culminating in an unconventional understanding of love, one that transcends borders and blooms into sisterhood. These profound instances of affection frequently find their way into my paintings.

As an African lesbian woman, I’ve faced significant challenges, including the fear of coming out and living a perpetual charade conforming to heteronormative expectations, especially during visits to my home country. Despite this, I’ve built a resilient support system of empathetic individuals, their narratives mirrored in my art as I delve into the multifaceted reality of womanhood and love’s dimensions.

My art, although not bound by a specific style, explores subjects that resonate with me deeply, with each brush stroke representing my perceptions and experiences. My ultimate artistic aim is to encapsulate and represent the experiences, emotions, and narratives that have molded my identity.

In my creation process, I use different media: Oil on canvas, collages, acrylic on canvas, and mixed technique: Oil pastels, watercolors, and acrylic on paper. For many years my favorite technique was collages. In order to achieve the richness of the surface, I use textiles, mirrors, wood, photos, and sawdust, and at the end of the creation process, I paint with Oil colors. The picture’s physical body juxtaposes and suffuses each part of the painting and veritably forms jazz of the visual performance.

My inspirations come from travels, music, art, literature, and nature, also from the unknown fields of consciousness and unconsciousness. I usually listen to my inner voice. Another source of my inspiration is my stresses and losses. About 15 years ago I had a very bad period in my life, but I think, all pressures and anxieties regenerated and retransformed my inner into the next level of deeper understanding. In England I discovered a new way how to express myself in the fields of the visual art.

In order to achieve a particular expression and to show the inner and the spirit of the object, I stylize, reshape forms of the nature in my own unique way. All about connections with the objects continuously. Also, I am aiming at the resemblance I am observing nature and objects and transferring into the canvas through signs.

I never stick with one stylistic manner or technique for a long time. I always try to express myself in different ways. Some of my artworks have elements of impressionism, or pointillism, and others – surrealism. But I do not follow any particular stream.

Black and White Print Negative and Positive Transfers from original images taken from 1850-1960, transferred in the darkroom onto Ilford Black and White Glossy RC Paper, 16×20
January 2025 – April 2025

Humans hold onto photographs, items, and objects that hold memories or stories of the loved ones who have passed away. We may have no actual connection to the physical person who once held these narratives, yet because the stories were explained to us, or because we have been told they are connected to our family, we keep them. Without these explanations or experiences, items that we find in attics, homes, or spaces that need to be cleaned out would be considered junk and often would be tossed away.

My grandfather passed away in 2024, and when he moved out of his home and into a care center, I acquired many of our family photo albums. Some images were of my family from the 1850s through the early 1900s. These people are strangers to me. While my grandmother was still alive, I decided to take these photographs and ask about the story behind them, and she shared with me my grandfather’s lineage and family history. These photographs are more impactful to me now; however, the people are still unknown to me personally.

The more distant these narratives are, the more unclear the stories resonate with me. We assume or hope that our family history includes ‘good’ and ‘decent’ people, but the truth is, we will never know. The closer the timeline gets to our time of living, the more we are familiar with the setting, characters in our story, and the situations that came about. I take these found images and create photographic negative and positive prints before placing them onto a larger sheet in the darkroom. Each sheet is set within a specific decade of time from what was labeled when I found them. The more unfamiliar I am with the images, the more blurry or unfamiliar they are presented to the viewer. Leaving some images that are unknown in negative form, mixed with some images in a positive print, gives the viewer an insight into how familiar I am with some of these people and stories about them. However, without these handed-down tales or questions I asked, these stories would die with those who were told them last. Without my questions, these stories would die, and without me telling anyone else about them, these stories will end with me.

I compose bright, surprising settings like a luxury jewel box and assimilate my interiors to unknown sanctuaries with high vibes by metabolizing my experiences, observations, and impressions into interior pictures. I compose collage elements, sea creatures, plants, and images from art history into new spatial structures and give rebirth to the classical interior. In my highly detailed paintings, with their tapestry-like designs, you will find interiors with fish, leopards, Chinese porcelain, ceramics, baroque furniture, and retro-style influences. Everything in my paintings is playful, ambiguous, and multi-layered. I love variations within a theme and image quotations. My artwork is much more than an assemblage of colors and patterns to please the eye. I build new environments that relate to nothing seen before. I want my pure aesthetic energy to flow out of my artwork and brighten the viewer’s mind with pure buzz and pleasant excitement.

I love to break the traditional methods of spatial visualization and the three-dimensional physical illusions of a room to make the viewer’s perception of reality absurd. I want to allow my audience to look behind the bare, well-known pictorial sphere by leaving behind the classically taught composition and inventing more layers within the two-dimensional canvas. Sometimes I enlarge the interior space through perspective illusions and add collage elements, which I collect every day, for additional connotation. By breaking the classical view, I can generate a new experience for my audience, pointing them to emotional reality. I turn my motives into bright, cheering works of art, like an explosion of colors and organic shapes. Everybody is welcome to participate.

Creating is like breathing.
Painting is surviving.

The painting process itself is of the utmost importance in my daily life. Painting is comparable to breathing for me. I like to plunge into my painting process as others fall into a pool. Creating a new image is an effort to balance between visualizing and reflecting on my surroundings and emotions. The subjects of my work reflect a myriad of daily impressions from traveling and being in motion. While painting, I get an extraordinary sense of personal and creative freedom. From the basic idea of perspective, I developed the layout of the constructed space, which I am wallpapering. I overpaint my interior compositions with an old master glaze technique and a structure of shadows and complementary colors to increase the luminosity of my work. I capture detailed and precise moments that bring a fresh and intriguing perspective to the world’s reality. As the viewer sees now existing in a different light, context, or resolution, familiar objects appear as something new.

I see the world around me in terms of light and captured moments – and often, the tiniest details become the focus of a larger story. I frame images of such details and moments in larger-format mats and frames to draw the viewer into the detail while simultaneously letting these details “take up space”, both physically and visually. In addition to photography, I am an accomplished jewelry designer, and I think that perhaps this attention to minuscule detail stems from this work. Another result of this work with metal, gems, and other natural materials is my obsession with texture, both visual and tactile.

My art is a reflection of my deep connection with nature, a bond that has been nurtured since childhood. As a self-taught artist, I have always found solace and inspiration in the natural world, where the delicate details of flowers and the vast, calming presence of the sea captivate me. These elements serve as the foundation of my creative process.

Working with acrylic paint and watercolors, I am drawn to the soft and bright hues of peaches and pinks, which have become signature tones in my work. These colors allow me to explore the gentle interplay of light and atmosphere, creating both serene and vibrant pieces. My paintings often take the form of dreamlike landscapes and impressionistic floral scenes, where reality merges with imagination, evoking a sense of peace and wonder.

Through my art, I aim to offer viewers a moment of tranquility and a reminder of the beauty that exists in the world around us. My work is an invitation to pause, breathe, and immerse oneself in the simple yet profound elegance of nature.

All my pieces are made with the process of hand felting and quilting un-spun sheep’s wool & silk. I use a combination of needle felting for some of the more detailed subjects, as well as wet felting. Wet felting is the process of creating a nonwoven fabric, with hot water, liquid soap & continuous compression, and I add bits of silk roving and un-spun silk hankies to add highlights and shiny details, where I think it will be beneficial for the image. Once my image is made and held all together, I use an industrial sewing machine to quilt around all of the imagery to create depth.

Beyond their scientific importance, photographs of outer space have a spiritually intoxicating effect on humans. The astrophotographs in Abstracting Eternity aim to capture this feeling by focusing on nebulae and galaxies, the massive clouds of gas and dust in which stars and their galaxies are born. Because nebulae represent the universe in the process of creation, still relatively formless, they lend themselves to a degree of abstraction that appeals to me as an artist. This takes my images a step away from pure science. I never want viewers to forget, though, that the photographs capture the universe as it was billions of light years ago—an eternity that inspires awe humbles us with our own insignificance, and puts our human troubles in perspective.

In 2020, I decided to spend over a year staying away from the city and camping in the desert in western Texas. I used various equipment, including a telescope and a monochrome camera, to capture color and luminance in the universe.

I am Joanne Meurer, an artist who thrives on the interplay of mood, music, and materiality. My creative journey is a fusion of passion and precision, where the rhythms of rock and jazz-funk electrify my canvas, igniting a symphony of color and texture.

As a graphic designer by trade, my work is defined by meticulous detail and deliberate composition. Yet, beneath the surface lies a wild spontaneity—an untamed energy that pulses with the complex cadences of electric guitar solos and soulful jazz melodies.
Music is my muse, infusing each piece with an ethereal vitality that transcends the ordinary.

Whether inspired by the pulsating beats of global events or the intimate whispers of my innermost thoughts, my art reflects the world as seen through the lens of my consciousness.

Exploring beyond the confines of traditional art, I embrace the challenge of sculpting three-dimensional forms that mirror the depth of my personality and aspirations. Like a master craftsman, I mold form and substance into expressions of dimensionality, inviting viewers to journey beyond the surface and uncover the hidden layers beneath.

When you encounter my work, what may initially appear as a distant tableau soon reveals itself as a vibrant tapestry of complexity and nuance. With each brushstroke and every note, I invite you to delve deeper into the kaleidoscope of my soul—a realm where light and shadow dance in harmony, where chaos and order merge to form a symphony of expression.

In every moment, in every creation, I rediscover myself—a seeker, a storyteller, a dreamer of boundless possibilities. Through my art, I invite you to join me on this timeless voyage of discovery, where the journey is as infinite as the creative spirit itself.