A native of Chicago, Joan Jonland briefly studied at the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to the Pacific Northwest where, over twenty years she has exhibited her work widely in galleries. A favorite of local collectors, Joan's work has also been commissioned by the Centrum Foundation (WA) and Peter Fox Shoes, Ltd. (NY).  The inspiration for Joan's painting is divided between the two influential landscapes of her life: the urban vista of her Midwest childhood and the wild and natural beauty of the Olympic Peninsula.

Joan Jonland's Chicago series features images of downtown Chicago in the fifties and sixties. Everywhere, there are women--pondering the turn of the ankle in a specialty shoe shop, bustling through a grand department store, or expertly working a busy restaurant.  "The female figure," the artist states, "offers brilliant color, shape and individualism.  The women I paint are solid figures who, through adornment, create personal statements; they endure life undaunted."

Like her Chicago images, Joan's landscape paintings go beyond the merely representational:

"These landscapes dance in their frames, the trees slanting slightly to suggest wind and tension.  The houses are solid warm shelters, scattered in the neatly ordered landscapes.  Light, the most tantalizing element, is woven subtly through each image, giving special seasonal qualities to the ever-present poplars."  Ann Katzenbach, Port Townsend Leader