05 Jun Joyce Hartmann
So good to be a member of Conway League of Artists! Conway is a dynamic community with great art and colleges! It’s one of my very favorite places.
I spent most of my life in careers other than art: physical education and dance teacher, writer, illustrator, and consortium director in home office. Art was always important to me, though, and from childhood on I drew or painted whenever I found time.
After retirement, we moved from Kansas to a wooded area in Choctaw, Arkansas, built a little studio from a bunkhouse, and I have painted there for the last 20 years. I like to paint wildlife, people, flowers, and scenes from nature and travels. Almost anything!
I especially enjoy plein air painting; it strengthens my studio art because I can look at nature as it really is, and render my interpretation of it. When I look at my plein air paintings, it transports me to that exact spot: I vividly remember fragrances of flowers, the sound of wind, the laughter of canoeists, cows walking by, the warm sun, cool water.
I hold degrees in physical education and art: A.B. Washington University, St. Louis, and M.S. from Pittsburg State University, Kansas. My art awards include purchase awards in watercolor at plein air events and Best of Shows in oil painting, watercolor, and ink in regional and state competitions. I hold signature status in MidSouthern Watercolorists Society. My work hangs in museums, galleries, homes and businesses worldwide.
My other interests are many: I love to swim in nearby Greers Ferry Lake, and volunteer as an art docent at South Fork Nature Center. In 1966 I was a national scuba spearfishing championship, in 1975 a Gold Medal in table tennis at the National Senior Olympics in Tucson, and this year won 4 AR gold medals. I have a pilot’s license, 4 pianos, and three wonderful daughters in Texas and Oregon. So much to do I’ll never get it all done; time is short when you’re 85…Carpe Diem!
