Joan Griswold was born in Oberlin, Ohio in 1954.  With her family she moved to Rochester, New York and then in 1970 to Kobe, Japan. After graduating from an international high school, she spent a year in Kyoto studying the language and pottery of Japan.   She graduated from Beloit College in 1977 with a double major in Classics and Studio Art.

After a few years of foreign travel she settled in New York where she opened and ran a small art gallery and frame shop for five years.  In 1986 she moved to the Berkshires. With her husband, Roy Blount Jr. she now divides her time between Western Massachusetts and New Orleans LA.  Ms. Griswold’s award-winning work has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions, and has been acclaimed in the New York Times and other publications.  Her work can be found in many private collections throughout the US and Europe.

From the Artist:

Light.
I like how light moves: caresses a cup up to a point, slips around the cup’s curve into shadow, then bounces back out from the tabletop bearing the cup’s reflection.
I like how light casts seductive patterns of shapes and colors onto the faces of buildings. I like how the warmth of light brings out the life in an empty bedroom. I like the drama of a single light in a darkened hallway.
I aim to capture light.
With paint.
I enjoy mixing paint, brushing it on, wiping it out and scumbling it back on; I love making what looks like a mess, has all the energy of a mess, up close. But as you step back, the mess becomes a book on a desk, a pillow on a couch, lamplight across a bed.