Joanne M. Felt

Artist in residence at the Des Moines Art Center from 1984 to 1988 and taught drawing at Iowa State University during 1987 and 1988. She is currently teaching at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N. Y.

" I love painting because it is physically and intellectually demanding and paint, a viscous fluid, moves. I draw and paint in order to feel, think and move. Visual problem solving is the most challenging and satisfying part of my work. I search for the right psychological and visual resolutions. At some point my paintings take on a specific temperament and dictate how I should proceed. My job, in kind is to respond to the direction the painting takes. Technically, I challenge myself to experiment resolving juxtaposed contrasts. I strive to preserve some areas of the golden under painting to make the heavier dense surfaces appear to have greater weight. I also intuitively contrast subtractive and additive processes: scraping versus blending, incising lines within blocks of tone, transparent glazing versus opaque impasto and limited color versus full color spectrum pallets or monochromatic versus complimentary color relationships, soft versus rough tactile textures, illusions of deep against somewhat flatter space in thematically related yet formally varied or unique compositions." - Joanne Vella

SOURCE - https://www.joannevella.com/artists-statement (Sept 2025)