Joanne Bolen lives on her farm in Northeast Saskatchewan where her studio is also located. Although having always been interested in art and mark making from a young age, in 2003 Bolen started her education in formal art classes at the University of Saskatchewan. Since then, she has taken numerous workshops and self-directed projects.

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Exploring a range of ideas about humanity, a question Bolen has pondered how and when we affect our surroundings and the way we perceive our world from the past to the present. Numerous walks amongst areas that were once inhabited by humans is a mainstay in her art making. This is powerful and intimate as she literally walks through the past.

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Her main love is oil and acrylic painting on wood and printmaking as these mediums lend the best to what she wishes to show. The first thing that you notice is the colour in her work, the deep, rich tones that evoke a sense of otherworldly feeling. Joanne is influenced by many print makers and painters such as Francisco Goya, Pablo Picasso, Käthe Kollwitz, Albrecht Dürer, and Odd Nerdrum.

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Joanne has exhibited in many group shows in Saskatchewan, with her paintings going to private collections.

Always an activist, she is a founding member of Keep Kenderdine, a member of the Melfort Arts Council since 2002 and Chair of the Melfort Arts Council since 2020.

Education

2003 to 2012

  • University of Saskatchewan via Cumberland College, Melfort SK classes included drawing; painting(acrylic, oil, watercolour); chalk pastels; printmaking (traditional, etching, dry point, waterless lithography); sculpture

Training and Workshops

2021

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2006 - 2012

2017

2017

2016

2012

2011

2005 - 2012

  • Accepted into and completed the The Travelling Mentor program offered through CARFAC Saskatchewan with mentor internationally recognized artist, Clint Neufeld.

  • Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus, Degen Lindner         

  • Workshop "Developing a Body of Work" - Monique Martin

  • Workshop "Beauty of Resists" - Bobbi Clackson-Walker

  • Workshop "The Landscape Abstracted" - Bobbi Clackson-Walker

  • Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus, Ward Schell      

  • Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus, Iris Hauser

  • Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus, Degen Lindner

Selected Exhibitions

2019

2018

2016

2013

2012

2010

2010

2009

2008

2007

  • The Eye Gallery, Saskatoon, SK

  • Shervin Smith Art Gallery, Melfort, SK

  • Void Gallery, SK “Death and Rebirth” Joanne Bolen and Brianne Chisholm

  • Void Gallery, SK Joanne Bolen and Randi Lalonde

  • Sherven-Smith Gallery, Melfort, Saskatchewan

  • The Black Spruce Gallery, Accidental Artists of the Northeast, Christopher Lake, SK

  • Sherven-Smith Gallery, Accidental Artists of the Northeast, Melfort, SK

  • Doghide Gallery, Tisdale, Saskatchewan

  • Country Custom Framing & Gallery, Melfort, SK

  • Doghide Gallery, Tisdale, SK

Awards

2021

  • Art Placement Award for Accomplishment in Acrylic, Mann Art Gallery 45th Winter Festival Art Show & Sale

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Related Experience

2019 - Present

2014 - 2018

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2013 - Present

 

2003 - Present

  • Present  Founding member of 12th City Artist Collective

  • Founding member of Melfort Arts Group, a group that aims to make art accessible to all people of the Melfort and area, Melfort, SK

  • Founding member of Keep Kenderdine, a group that protested the closure of the campus and works toward its reopening, Saskatoon, SK

  • Member of The Melfort Arts Council, a visual group that sponsors approximately eight art shows per year at the Sherven-Smith Art Gallery, Melfort, SK