Monday, March 12, 2012

Artist Spotlight: Joanna Barnum

A few weeks ago I stumbled across the watercolors and illustrations of Joanna Barnum and immediately wanted to know more about her process of working and background as an artist. Here is an excerpt about the artist straight from her website:

"Joanna Barnum is a Baltimore, MD based illustrator whose expressive watercolor style stretches across several genres, including conceptual portraiture, narrative illustration for children and adults, and wildlife and culinary illustration.

She also paints fine art watercolor portraits of people, pets, and homes for private clients, occasionally paints energetic murals in private homes and businesses, and exhibits her work locally and nationally."


Below are examples of her paintings and some questions that she was kind enough to answer for me. Enjoy!


(Mycologist Mary Banning)



1. Explain what type of art you do in 100 words or less.

 I work mostly in watercolor and pen and ink, and portraits are my favorite. I paint portraits for private clients and I do illustrative/conceptual portraits for print and also other kinds of illustration. Sometimes I do murals, and I exhibit my work in galleries when I can.


2. How long have you been doing what you do?

 I graduated from art school in 2006 and have been working professionally since then, although I've been painting my whole life.


3. Do you make a living off your art? If not, what job(s) do you have or have you done in the past?

 Mostly. I'm in the fortunate position of being married to someone with a more traditional job, so between the two of us, I'm able to freelance full time without having to do anything else right now. I've worked as a framing assistant in a gallery, and as a student, I did some administrative work, museum internships, and worked as a camp councilor. I've never really had a 9-5 job. I recently resigned from a volunteer position as the Secretary for the board of directors for an arts nonprofit I cared deeply about, but needed to take a break and put that energy back into my own work.



(Louis Comfort Tiffany - glass artist and designer  
and Stephen Jay Gould - paleontologist and evolutionary biologist)


4. Did you have any formal training?

Yes, I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where I majored in illustration and minored in art history.


5. What's the most indispensable item in your studio?

A pencil, perhaps? Or my laptop, even though I don't really work digitally, since it's the heartbeat of my business.



(Gregor Mendel - scientist and Augustinian friar)

6. What inspired you to paint different historical figures, such as your watercolors for different scientists, authors and poets? Or your inspiration for the portrait of mycologist Mary Banning and your series of fungi paintings?

When I first graduated from college and was working on building a freelance career, some of my most immediate success was in doing privately commissioned fairly traditional portrait paintings in watercolor. Things like pets, wedding photos, babies. I still do a lot of them. At first it was just a way to make some money, but eventually I realized it was some of my best work, and where my skills shined the most.

I've been trying to evolve that focus into a portfolio of portrait illustrations that aren't just nice paintings, but conceptual pieces that convey key information or tell a story about the person depicted. I do a lot of research when I'm doing a piece about a historical figure or a celebrity, and learn a lot in the process, so when it's a piece for my portfolio where I get to choose the focus, I gravitate toward people and topics that interest me or that I'd like to know more about. Lately, that's been biologists. I'm aesthetically attracted to the natural world, and drawing attention to the need to protect the environment is important to me.


7. What project are you working on now?

I'm working on a portrait of a Magpie queen for the "Seven Deadly Sins" show being produced by Artistique Theater (http://www.artistiquetheatre.com/). I'm illustrating the Queen song "Killer Queen" for the 10 Paces and Draw blog's mixtape feature (http://ten-paces.blogspot.com/). I have a series of tattoo style illustrations inspired by Maryland landmarks and symbolism in progress. I've also been painting some landscapes in preparation for a long road trip I'm about to take, because I want to be able to do some work during and about the trip.


8. Who's your favorite living artist?

That's really tough. Lisbeth Zwerger and Maira Kalman are two of my favorites. I'm probably forgetting others I should mention.


(Alfred Wallace - naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist)


9. What under-appreciated artist, gallery, or work do you think people should know about?

My friend Brian Truax just opened a new little gallery and framing shop in Baltimore: http://www.truaxframes.com/frames/Welcome.htmlActually, in general, Baltimore is filled with really cool art, galleries, and creative groups but I think we're a little under-appreciated as far as art-centric cities go.


10. What's the last artwork you purchased?

I bought an illustrated letterpress print of Poe's "The Raven" by Val Lucas/Bowerbox Press (http://bowerbox.com)


(Barnums own rendering of poet Edgar Allen Poe)


11. Do you have set hours that you paint each day or only when you are inspired to work?

Hypothetically, I try to work from 9-5 during the week, because I like to hang out with my husband and pursue other hobbies during the evenings and weekends. In reality my day also includes a lot of administrative type work for my business, household chores, reading the internet, etc. etc...not just painting. I like that my hours are flexible.


12. What style of art do you most identify with?

Illustration? That's not really a style, I guess, but it's a way of working and thinking. I was actually thinking the other day about how I seem to have had more success as a portrait painter and an exhibiting artist than I have as a commercial illustrator in the past few years, but I still think of myself as an illustrator. I probably always will, regardless of where my career heads. It's about making work that tells a story or conveys information, and thinking about how that work can and should be used in the world, beyond a single original that can only hang on one person's wall.


13. Out of all the pieces you have painted, do you have personal favorite?

Charles Darwin. I think it's one of the best pieces I've done in the past few years, and represents a turning point for me stylistically I think. Other people also seem to like it a lot and I've sold a ton of prints of it. (http://www.joannabarnum.com/gallery/portraits/darwin)

(Charles Darwin - Naturalist)


14. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

"You never arrive in life."- Warren Linn (one of my illustration instructors at MICA)

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