May 2025 Featured Artist
An Artist and Her Studio:
An Interview with Joan Meyer
Joan Meyer in Her Studio
Photo Courtesy: Joan Meyer |
Joan Elizabeth Meyer is a New York City-born-and-based artist who has refined her style and skills for over 40 years. Her paintings are oil on canvas or oil on wood assemblages. They bring surreal images to life with unique colors where her love of nature shines through in depictions of animal and plant life. Joan has an approach that suggests a futuristic scenario which blends the subconscious imagination and dream-like imagery.
Joan taught art in the public high schools for 25 years, mostly in inner New York City schools. While teaching full-time, she continued to paint but with obvious time restrictions. Now retired from full-time teaching, Joan creates new works at her Chelsea art studio. She continues to exhibit at various New York City institutions, including The National Arts Club, where she has been an exhibiting artist member for over 25 years. Her work has been recognized in Art in America, Miami Herald, Interview Magazine, Art and Antiques Collector’s Sourcebook, and was most recently featured in Forbes magazine. Joan has won numerous awards and fellowships. She has exhibited in galleries and museums, receiving prizes in juried shows. Her work has been widely collected across the United States, the UK, the European Union, and Southeast Asia. "I don’t need a lot in front of me. I may have a vague idea as a springboard, but once I start, the inspiration comes from physically pushing around the paint." ~ Joan Elizabeth Meyer |
By Dawn Lille
Stroll west on 26th Street in Chelsea, almost to 10th Avenue, enter a large ordinary-looking building, go up to the fifth floor, walk a bit, make a left turn, and find an open door welcoming you to an artist’s studio lined with paintings. Peer inside and you will find Joan Elizabeth Meyer painting ‘midst the many colors and shapes enveloping her. It took Joan 39 years to arrive at this Chelsea sanctuary, and she smiles serenely as she inhabits it. Her paintings are a mix of unique colors and shapes, which initially appear abstract, but a second look reveals recognizable objects in their aura. There is also a sense of constant movement, of being taken someplace through dream-like imagery.
She grew up in Newark Valley, a very rural area in Upstate New York surrounded by woods. She always played at creating objects, fashioning structures out of natural forest materials that were available and constantly drawing in books and on sketch pads. She liked to make up stories, which she would then illustrate.
After receiving her B.A. and MFA in art Joan was the recipient of two fellowships, one to the North Carolina School of the Arts and one to the Acadomia di Belle Art in Florence, Italy. She began her almost 30-year teaching career in 1984 in Florida, where she was quickly recognized as an up-and-coming talent. She exhibited in museums and galleries, won several awards, and was featured in newspaper and magazine articles. But she moved to New York City because, to her, it was the center of the art world. It was also a tough place to survive as an artist.
She grew up in Newark Valley, a very rural area in Upstate New York surrounded by woods. She always played at creating objects, fashioning structures out of natural forest materials that were available and constantly drawing in books and on sketch pads. She liked to make up stories, which she would then illustrate.
After receiving her B.A. and MFA in art Joan was the recipient of two fellowships, one to the North Carolina School of the Arts and one to the Acadomia di Belle Art in Florence, Italy. She began her almost 30-year teaching career in 1984 in Florida, where she was quickly recognized as an up-and-coming talent. She exhibited in museums and galleries, won several awards, and was featured in newspaper and magazine articles. But she moved to New York City because, to her, it was the center of the art world. It was also a tough place to survive as an artist.
Floating Above the Earth
Oil on Canvas ~ 24 x 48 inches © Joan Elizabeth Meyer |
"As seagulls are positioned in a cracked parking lot, an alien form is emerging from the earth as a giant sea turtle floats over this tainted landscape." ~ J.E.M.
She taught both gifted students and those with a varied intellectual background, first in Brooklyn and then in lower Manhattan. She created an after-school program in oil painting for inner city students and taught them how to frame their art as well. For 15 years the National Arts Club gave these students an annual exhibit of their work, with a formal opening and a dinner for the artists. Este Lauder heard about the program and offered to pay for the works to be framed by professional framers. Most of the paintings were sold, and the creators were thrilled to earn some money and to be treated so specially. Once they graduated they went to work, with no time or money for art, but that experience was never forgotten.
During these years there was little time to paint, but she never stopped, and managed to travel to seven continents as well, her most recent trip being an expedition to Antarctica. She got permission to paint on board the ship and when on excursions. For the latter, she hung a little watercolor set around her neck and made sketches she then turned into paintings.
Before she acquired her new retreat, Joan shared one with several other artists and then converted the bedroom in her Prince Street apartment into a studio, making the small living room serve a dual role and hanging her color-arranged jackets between paintings in the hallway. Here are some thoughts in her own words.
During these years there was little time to paint, but she never stopped, and managed to travel to seven continents as well, her most recent trip being an expedition to Antarctica. She got permission to paint on board the ship and when on excursions. For the latter, she hung a little watercolor set around her neck and made sketches she then turned into paintings.
Before she acquired her new retreat, Joan shared one with several other artists and then converted the bedroom in her Prince Street apartment into a studio, making the small living room serve a dual role and hanging her color-arranged jackets between paintings in the hallway. Here are some thoughts in her own words.
How would you describe yourself as a painter?
I would describe myself as an expressionist surreal painter of landscapes. This has always been my approach. In my 20s, I was still painting the same things except they were more abstract, tending to look like landscapes, but somewhat surreal and expressionistic. Then it was called new expressionism. I think my work is less wild looking now but with the same ideas: dream = like and unknown worlds. It’s what the future could look like if we don’t do something about it.
I would describe myself as an expressionist surreal painter of landscapes. This has always been my approach. In my 20s, I was still painting the same things except they were more abstract, tending to look like landscapes, but somewhat surreal and expressionistic. Then it was called new expressionism. I think my work is less wild looking now but with the same ideas: dream = like and unknown worlds. It’s what the future could look like if we don’t do something about it.
Window to Changing Worlds
Oil on Canvas ~ 22 x 28 inches © Joan Elizabeth Meyer "New York is under water in this dreamlike painting, and the inside of a building reveals crumbling walls and a hole looking out into and under the sea." ~ J.E.M.
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Sleepwalking
Oil on Canvas ~ 26 x 36 inches © Joan Elizabeth Meyer "This painting shows a “monster” painting a narrative. The monster is a symbol for humans that are sleepwalking through the degradation created upon the earth. Animals are behind bars, other spirits are morphing into the paint." ~ J.E.M.
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What inspires you?
I have strong feelings about things that directly affect me, as well as life and events around me. I did a whole series after 9/11. I never paint a picture of a figure in despair. The art pushes out the emotions, and it turns into something else when it becomes a painting. At present, I am very affected by nature and how we corrupt the environment. Inspiration comes from the task of getting started. Once you begin the process of painting, you just start making things up. I don’t need a lot in front of me. I may have a vague idea as a springboard, but once I start, the inspiration comes from physically pushing around the paint. It is like a child plays. They don’t ask what do I do next. The inspiration is my own imagination.
I have strong feelings about things that directly affect me, as well as life and events around me. I did a whole series after 9/11. I never paint a picture of a figure in despair. The art pushes out the emotions, and it turns into something else when it becomes a painting. At present, I am very affected by nature and how we corrupt the environment. Inspiration comes from the task of getting started. Once you begin the process of painting, you just start making things up. I don’t need a lot in front of me. I may have a vague idea as a springboard, but once I start, the inspiration comes from physically pushing around the paint. It is like a child plays. They don’t ask what do I do next. The inspiration is my own imagination.
Chain Reaction
Oil on Canvas ~ 24 x 30 inches © Joan Elizabeth Meyer "This is a painting about what I’m viewing as a chain reaction of events on the planet. The large fossilized hawk is pecking the sun, an octopus grasps onto a stone tree limb, and the world is basically upside down." ~ J.E.M.
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Sunset Wilderness
Oil on Wood ~ 12 x 15 inches © Joan Elizabeth Meyer "This painting was inspired by a friend’s giant porcelain sculpture of a leopard. This object d’art acted as the springboard for the painting. The rest of the subject matter is invented and is showing a portal to a better world. On our side the swan is dirty and the city looms in the background in a haze, a fish is jumping and gasping for air." ~ J.E.M.
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You taught because you had to live and have spoken about this conflict in the life of any artist. Can you expand on this?
I think that many artists hide the facts concerning where they get the financial ability to create. How do you pay for a studio and paint, for rent and food, and still find time to be an artist? They hide the fact that they got lucky and someone is supporting them. But many artists, like me, had to teach out of necessity. Teaching art was at least a way to have a job that was about creativity. I had to survive and pay the bills. How did the trip to Antarctica affect you? It really changed, or rather, solidified my view. I had never seen such a pristine environment and what looked like a million penguins and other animals. It was almost like the garden of Eden, as if there were no predators and no human had bothered anything. The air was crisp, the water clean, the birds flying. This is what happens when someplace is protected, and I thought, what have we done? It made me feel the world could be different. I came back and painted works that are surreal but have the look of the scenery. "The inspiration for my Arctic Vortex piece was this trip to Antarctica where I saw ancient whale bones washed up on the shore. The dystopian factor is added/invented, and the whirlpool symbolizes the fall of nature and species." ~ J.E.M. |
Arctic Vortex
Oil on Canvas ~ 48 x 36 inches © Joan Elizabeth Meyer |
The Warming
Oil on Canvas ~ 48 x 36 inches © Joan Elizabeth Meyer "This painting is a take on a dream I had a while back where fire was coming over a hill, blanketing everything. It’s a statement of our environment, specifically global warming, with the objects and life tumbling in chaos." ~ J.E.M.
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Violet Cougar Confused by a State of Affairs
Oil on Canvas ~ 14 x 11 inches © Joan Elizabeth Meyer "This painting uses symbolism to show the violet cougar as nature herself, and the skull represents decay. The city in the background along with a distorted robot-human are incongruent to nature." ~ J.E.M.
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How have you changed over the years?
When someone is young, they are more emotional and unstable. Life is more highs and lows. This can come out in art as a more frenzied look — or in my case, more expressionistic. I was wilder when I was young. Then, through living, it becomes more of an intellectual process. You are not quite as temperamental and more in control of your life. The art becomes more mature.
I would still encourage young artists to keep going, to use their talent and pursue their goals. I finally got my studio!
When someone is young, they are more emotional and unstable. Life is more highs and lows. This can come out in art as a more frenzied look — or in my case, more expressionistic. I was wilder when I was young. Then, through living, it becomes more of an intellectual process. You are not quite as temperamental and more in control of your life. The art becomes more mature.
I would still encourage young artists to keep going, to use their talent and pursue their goals. I finally got my studio!
The Rushing of Time
Oil on Canvas ~ 30 x 40 inches
© Joan Elizabeth Meyer
Oil on Canvas ~ 30 x 40 inches
© Joan Elizabeth Meyer
This painting is literally about time rushing exponentially. The waters are rushing through the landscape as a bird watches by observing but unable to do anything.
Where do you find sanctuary?
Sanctuary is not always easily attainable. But I do find sanctuary if I’m in a quiet, snowy forest deep in the woods, preferably with ice and snow on the branches and not a sound to be heard except maybe a bird or snow falling from a pine bough. Sun can be streaming through in spots but not all over. If it’s not winter, then anytime or season as long as I’m in the woods.
Sanctuary is not always easily attainable. But I do find sanctuary if I’m in a quiet, snowy forest deep in the woods, preferably with ice and snow on the branches and not a sound to be heard except maybe a bird or snow falling from a pine bough. Sun can be streaming through in spots but not all over. If it’s not winter, then anytime or season as long as I’m in the woods.
The Bird that Crashed in the Ruins
Oil on Canvas ~ 24 x 30 inches
© Joan Elizabeth Meyer
Oil on Canvas ~ 24 x 30 inches
© Joan Elizabeth Meyer
Dawn Lille, Ph.D., trained in ballet, modern dance and Laban analysis, and has worked in dance and theater as a performer, choreographer, director, teacher and writer. She taught at Brooklyn, Barnard and City College/CUNY, where she wrote and headed a graduate program in dance, and at Juilliard. Dawn’s many publications include articles in journals and encyclopedias, chapters in eight collections, and two books. Her interest in the social ramification of the arts was seen in the 1996 exhibit “Classic Black: Black Dancers in Ballet Prior to DTH,” which she researched and curated.
