Sculpture

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In her 45-year career, Brown has exhibited in galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, Japan, and China. Her figures and three-dimensional wall installations are represented in prominent private and public collections and are displayed in parks, sculpture gardens, and urban public spaces around the world. She is internationally known for her expertise with wood-fired kilns. In 1998, she co-founded Still Mountain Center, a nonprofit organization that fosters artistic exchange between East and West. 

joy@joybrownstudio.com, 860-927-4946. Website: joybrownstudio.com #joybrownonbroadway (instagram)

Art is a path of self discovery for me. For 45 years the discipline of clay challenges and nurtures, enriches and transforms my life, taking me to places inside and outside of myself that I never could have imagined. Whether it be pots or sculpture, bronze or ceramic wall reliefs, the forms I make are a tangible reflection and expression of this evolving inner self.

My roots are in pottery as I was trained in a rigorous traditional apprenticeship in clay in Japan. In my practice, for the first year, I was required to make 1000’s of sake cups, only cups, never firing any of them. Not only did this teach me about how to prepare the clay, use the tools, throw a cup on the wheel, dry and trim the cup, but it developed in me an intuitive connection to the clay.  This process, as difficult as it was at the time, has had a profound influence on my work. It is a meditation, my mind and thoughts quieting in order to be present with the clay. There is beauty and power in this limitation and repetition, allowing for an organic evolution of the work.

When I come to Continuum practice it feels like home. Like clay is for me, it is a grounding, centering way of being in the world, growing my capacity to be more fully present in body, mind and spirit. As in my sculpture, it is an exploration of the movement in stillness and the unseen connection, energy and flow that exists in the in-between.