OPUS 90 - Celebrating 90 years of work by photographer Joyce Wilson
In life and work, Wilson is constantly balancing the realities and fantasies of her world and searching for an elusive truth. As a child, she was fascinated with the old-world fables my grandmother would spin for her. She drew inspiration from poetry, music, and her life experiences to create tapestries rich with metaphors and symbolism. Joyce became a commercial photographer out of necessity, and her career was financially rewarding but artistically stifling. She found a way to straddle a fine line, and my mantra became, “One for Thee, One for Me”. Then she began using clients to satisfy her need to create art, and it was a rewarding collaboration.
Wilson works with various materials and processes, including oil, acrylic, pastel, printmaking, collage, traditional and alternative photographic processes, and assemblage. Whether photographing or painting, she works intuitively, blending old-world and contemporary technology using the camera as a sketchbook for the unfolding art. A central theme in her work is a celebration of humanity and our relationship to nature. More recent work deals with these of injustice and torment. The images offer stories of my lifelong journey and my profound belief in a divine presence that connects all living things. She invites the viewer to engage in search of familiar truths.
The commemorative catalog published for the Opus 90 exhibitions aims to inspire and encourage aspiring artists and everyone to live a joyful and meaningful life. Art and love are the great healers, and Joyce hopes her story will encourage others to be present, to be here in the moment.
