Joanne Bolen was born October 27th, 1970 and lives in Northeast Saskatchewan. She is married and has 3 grown children. She is a full time artist working out of her studio on the farm.

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.

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.

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 Fransisco Goya, Pablo Picasso, Käthe Kollwitz, Albrecht Dürer, and Odd Nerdrum.

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 and has been a member of the Melfort Arts Council since 2002.

Education

2003 - 2012    University of Saskatchewan through Cumberland College in Melfort,

classes included drawing; painting(acrylic, oil, watercolour); chalk pastels; printmaking (traditional, etching, drypoint, waterless lithography); sculpture

 

Training and Workshops

2006 - 2012    Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus, Degen Lindner

2017        “Developing a Body of Work” workshop - Monique Martin

2017        “Beauty of Resists” workshop - Bobbi Clackson-Walker

2016        “The Landscape Abstracted” workshop - Bobbi Clackson-Walker

2012        Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus, Ward Schell        

2011        Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus, Iris Hauser

2005 - 2012    Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus, Degen Lindner

 

Selected Exhibitions

2019  The Eye Gallery, Saskatoon, SK

2018   Shervin Smith Art Gallery, Melfort, SK

2016   Void Gallery, SK “Death and Rebirth” Joanne Bolen and Brianne Chisholm

2013   Void Gallery, SK Joanne Bolen and Randi Lalonde

2012   Sherven-Smith Gallery, Melfort, Saskatchewan

2010   The Black Spruce Gallery, Accidental Artists of the Northeast, Christopher Lake, SK

2010   Sherven-Smith Gallery, Accidental Artists of the Northeast, Melfort, SK

2010   Doghide Gallery, Tisdale, Saskatchewan

2009   Country Custom Framing & Gallery, Melfort, SK

2008   Doghide Gallery, Tisdale, SK

2007   Doghide Gallery, Tisdale, SK

​Related Experience

2019 - Present  Founding member of 12th City Artist Collective

2018   A member of the Meraki Artist Collective, a working group of artists in Northeastern Saskatchewan

2014 - 2018    Founding member of Melfort Arts Group, a group that aims to make art accessible to all people of the Melfort and area, Melfort, SK

2013 - Present    Founding member of Keep Kenderdine, a group that protested the closure of the campus and works toward its reopening, Saskatoon, SK

2003 - Present    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