ABOUTJO
"I share the impulse to make marks. I have faith in the visual language as a vehicle for an almost universal communication. Despite changing iconography or cultural sources, there is something that resonates within me when I’m before a set of well considered marks. Whatever medium, drawing, painting, sculpture, or printmaking, the power to empathize with the dualism of surface and space, pictorial or plastic, is endless." - Jo Weiss
I grew up in a family immersed in art. Taken through museums around the world, I reveled in the possibilities each work opened to me, from the profound to the quotidian. While these experiences were frequent, I never really considered devoting my life to the making of images as I was often alone and had few people to explore ideas with. As a result, it came as something of a eureka moment to realize that I could, in fact, build on the reservoir of images and motifs gathered through the years.
Pursuing my education with an emphasis on the figure, I have moved from direct perception to invention. I liken the physicality of painting to the choreography of stage or ballet as I exploit what I can from the figure’s gesture into something redolent of impending action. The very material of paint and the demands of composition provide me with the vehicle with which to explore these ideas.
Born: California 1955
Lives and works in Washington DC
EDUCATION
1986 MFA, The American University, Washington DC
1984 BFA, The American University, Washington DC
AWARDS
2011 Borgo Finnochietto Artist Residency, Buonconvento, Italy
2009 Vermont Studio Center Residency
2007 The Heliker-LaHotan Foundation Residency
1999 Maryland State Arts Council, painting
1986 Audrey Glassman Award for Painting
1984 Wolpoff Works on Paper
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2012 Garver Gallery, Madison,Wisconsin
Washington Studio School, Washington, DC
2011 D’Art Center, Norfolk, Virginia
2010 Katzen Museum, Washington DC
2008 Artists Inn Residence, Washington DC
2007 The Katzen Museum, Washington DC
Garver Gallery, Madison, Wisconsin
Washington Studio School, DC
2006 Washington Studio School, Gala Anniversary Exhibition, DC
Garver Gallery, Madison, Wisconsin
2004 Washington Studio School, DC
Garver Gallery, Madison, Wisconsin
2001 Washington Studio School, DC
Courtyard Gallery, Washington, DC
2000 Garver Gallery, Madison, Wisconsin
1999 Garver Gallery, Madison, Wisconsin
1998 Courtyard Gallery, Washington DC
1992 Dadian Gallery, Empowering Monotype, invitational exhibition, Washington, DC
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lee Fleming, "Galleries – Jo Weiss Le at Courtyard. " The Washington Post (September 11, 1993) , p. D2
J. W. Mahoney, "Empowering Monotype. " New Art Examiner (November 1992); p. 28
Janet Wilson, "Empowering Monotype. " The Washington Post (May 23, 1992)
"Works in Miniature. " The Wisconsin State Journal (August 28, 1989); p. D2
EMPLOYMENT
1986-2008
Dean, Washington Studio School
Instructor: Beginning Drawing, Advanced Drawing, Beginning Painting, Advanced Painting, Theory and Criticism, Elements of Abstraction, Printmaking.
1990 -1991
Maryland College of Art and Design, Baltimore, Maryland
Instructor: Drawing Fundamentals; Painting I & II.
1986 -1999
The American University, Washington DC
Instructor: Studio Painting I & II; Principles of Visual Form; Drawing I & II
VISITING ARTIST AND JUROR
2007 Guest Lecturer, Juror, Bodies: The Exhibition, Rosslyn, Virginia
2000 Juror: The Torpedo Factory, Studio Artist applications
1999 Panel director, lecturer on artist Robert Gates and his American University Legacy
1998 Juror: DC Commission on the Arts
1995 Georgetown University, Washington DC, Instructor: Printmaking I