Selected Solo Exhibitions


2024 Vico Arden Gallery, Boston

2022 Tutto Arden Gallery, Boston

         Looking Sharp Miller White Fine Arts, Dennis, Mass.

2020 Silk Road Arden Gallery, Boston

2020 Hue & Me Addington Gallery, Chicago
2019 From Dawn to Dusk ODETTA Gallery, New York City: Chelsea
2018 Fifty/Fifty Arden Gallery, Boston

2018 Coming Full Circle Melanee Cooper Gallery, Chicago
2016 I Always Return to Hue  Arden Gallery, Boston
2015 Joanne Mattera: The Silk Road Paintings Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, New York
2014 Chromatic Reasoning  Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson
2013 Chromatic Geometries  Arden Gallery, Boston
2012 Soie  Structural Madness, New York City (Curator: Gloria Klein)
2011 Diamond Life Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
2010 Viewing Room Heidi Cho Gallery, New York City

2010 Travel With Me Arden Gallery, Boston
2008 Contemplating the Horizontal Arden Gallery, Boston

2008 Hue Again  Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, Mass. (Curators: L. Bradbury. S. Dumont)
2007 Silk Road OK Harris Works of Art, New York City

2007 It’s Always About Hue, Isn’t It? Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
2006 Heat of the Moment Arden Gallery, Boston

2006 Pure Color Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
2006 10 Years of Encaustic Painting Winfisky Gallery, Salem State University, Salem, Mass.
2004 New Paintings Arden Gallery, Boston

2004 New Paintings Simon Gallery, Morristown, New Jersey
2004 New Paintings Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
2003 New Paintings Arden Gallery, Boston

2003 Mudra: New Paintings Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
2002 Uttar: New Paintings Simon Gallery, Morristown, New Jersey
2001 New Encaustic Paintings Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
2000 New Encaustic Paintings Arden Gallery, Boston

2000 Verso: Thought, Breath, Memory Espace Gallery, Manila, Philippines
1999. New Paintings Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
1996 Linear Perspectives OK Harris Works of Art, New York City
1995 New Paintings in Encaustic Stephen Haller Gallery, New York City


[Click on Installations for some exhibition views]

A Legacy of Making: 21 Contemporary Italian American Artists Calandra Institute, New York City

The Exquisite Corpse II, an online exhibition (Curator: Deanna Sirlin)

US & ME Kenise Barnes Fine Art popup in Portland, Maine

Conversations in Paper and Paint Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta 

Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1937-Present (Curator: Rebecca DiGiovanna), traveling via International Art and Artists to California Center for the Arts, Escondido, and Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, Connecticut, where the five-year tour ends

On Balance Art Cake, Brooklyn, with American Abstract Artists (Curator: Mary Birmingham)

Tactile | Textile Space Gallery, Denver


2022

Radical Chrome Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Kent, Connecticut

A Gathering: Art from the Roster Miller White Fine Arts, Dennis, Mass.

Pique: New Work by Gallery Artists Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta 

Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1937-Present (Curator: Rebecca DiGiovanna) traveling to Peeler Art Center, De Pauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, and Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Baton Rouge

Castle Hill Celebrates 50 Years  Hans Hoffman Gallery, Provincetown Art Assoc. and Museum, Provincetown, Massachusetts

Among Friends 3 Equity Gallery, New York City (Organizers: Alexandra Rutsch Brock, Beth Dary, Patricia Fabricant)

Cool and Collected '22 Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Kent, Connecticut

Colorful Language  Addington Gallery, Chicago


2021

Magic  Metaphor Arts, Brooklyn

The Exquisite Corpse, an online exhibition (Curator: Deanna Sirlin) 

Art for Your Collection  Catherine Fosnot Gallery, New London, Connecticut

Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1937-Present  (Curator: Rebecca DiGiovanna), traveling to The Baker Museum, Naples, Florida, and the Freedman Gallery at Albright College, Reading, Pennsylvania

Stripes: The Whole Idea  Online hosted by American Abstract Artists (Curator: Edith Newhall)

Stone Soup Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta

2020  
TerraChroma  Addington Gallery, Chicago
Digital: AAA Prints 2012-2019  Transmitter Gallery, Bushwick, Brooklyn; traveling to the Visual and Performing Arts Center, Western Connecticut State University, Danbury; prints by members of American Abstract Artists. Portfolios 
here and here
Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1937-Present  (Curator: Rebecca DiGiovanna), traveling to .South Bend Museum of Art, Indiana 

2019 
Polychrome 
Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, New York
Turner's Patent Yellow ODETTA Gallery, New York City: Harlem
Chromaticity Addington Gallery, Chicago
Thrive  Kenise Barnes at Kent Barns, Kent, Connecticut
Momentum  Space Annex,  Denver
Continuity to Change: Recent History of American Abstraction  Tower Fine Arts Gallery, The College at Brockport, State University of New York (Curator: Tim Massey)
A Short Survey of Contemporary Abstraction  Bergen County Performance Art Center, Englewood, New Jersey (Curator: James Austin Murray)
Among Friends/Entre Amigos  Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, New York City (Organizers: Alexandra Rutsch Brock, Beth Dary, Patricia Fabricant)
Boston International Fine Art show  invited by Miller White Gallery, Cape Cod

2018 
Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1937-Present 
(Curator: Rebecca DiGiovanna), exhibition originating at the Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Kentucky, and traveling to the Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville  
Crazy Beautiful III Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, New York
Organic to Geometric: Investigations in Surface and Structure Provincetown Art Association and Museum,  Provincetown, Massachusetts (Curator: Carol Pelletier)
Best Practices Miller White Fine Arts, Dennis, Mass. (Curator: Susan Danton)
Keeping it 100  OnCenter Gallery, Provincetown, Mass. (Curator: Winston Lee Mascarenhas)
The Blues Adam Peck Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts
The Exquisite Palette  Tacit Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Black Box Boecker Contemporary Saarlandisches Kunstler Haus, Saarbrucken, GermanyB
New York Art Lab Umeda Gallery, Osaka, Japan (Organizer: Shuhei Yamatani)
Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1937-Present  
Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Kentucky, and Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Art Wynwood  Invited by Analog Projects, New York City

2017 
Domestic Disturbances  
490 Atlantic Gallery, Brooklyn (Curator: Joanne Freeman)
Hybrid Form  Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York City
Traces  Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson
New Arrivals Cumberland Gallery, Nashville
Chromatopia: A History of Color in Art Tacit Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (Curators: Louise Blyton and David Coles)
This One's For You! Dedicated to Women Everywhere  DM Contemporary, New York City
Gallery Artists at Cape Cod Hospital, Hyannis, Mass.  (Organizer: Mike Carroll, Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown)
New York Art Lab Umeda Gallery, Osaka, Japan (Organizer: Shuhei Yamatani)
Black Box Boecker Contemporary, Heidelberg, Germany; traveling throughout Europe
Black Tie (Optional) Adam Peck Gallery, Provincetown, Mass. (Organizers: Adam and Marian Peck)

Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us), exhibition continuing, selected: Class Room, Coventry, England; Raygun Projects, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia; (Curator: Jeffrey Cortland Jones)

2016 
Best of 2016  Space Gallery, Denver
Chromatic Space  American Abstract Artists, Shirley Fiterman Gallery, New York City (Curator: Jonathan Lippincott)
10 Ways  Dr. Julius Gallery, Berlin, and RCM Galerie, Paris  (Curator: Lorenza Sannai)
Indian Summer Show  DM Contemporary, New York City

Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us), Corridor/Divisible, Dayton, Ohio; Boecker Contemporary, Heidelberg, Germany; 
Angelika Studios, High Wycombe, U.K.; (Curator: Jeffrey Cortland Jones)
Artists Select Cumberland Gallery, Nashville (Invited by artist Cheryl Goldsleger)

The Onward of Art 80th Anniversary Exhibition of American Abstract Artists, 1285 Art Gallery, New York City (Curator: Karen Wilkin)
Visible Histories American Abstract Artists, Abrons Art Center/Morris-Warren Gallery, New York City (Curator: Max Weintraub)
Art Palm Beach  Invited by Projects Gallery, Miami
Art Market San Francisco  Invited by Adler and Co. Gallery, San Francisco
Aqua Art Miami Invited by Projects Gallery, Miami

2015 
Endless, Entire  FiveMyles Gallery, Brooklyn; sponsored by American Abstract Artists (Curator: Rachel Nackman)

August Geometry Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
Going Big  Central Booking, New York City (Organizers: Susan Carr and Suzan Shutan)
Sang-Froid  Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, Mass.
Summer Show DM Contemporary, New York City
Selections from the Collection  U.S. State Department, Harry S. Truman Building, Washington. D.C

Organic to Geometric: Investigations in Structure and Surface  Heftler Gallery, Endicott College, Beverly, Mass. (Curator: Carol Pelletier)
Formal Aspects  Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, Mass. (Curator: Sarah Hinckley)
Territory of Abstraction  Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia
Pattern: Geometric|Organic  Space Gallery, Denver
10 Ways  Derbylius Libreria Galleria, Milan, Italy; and Clements & Schneider, Bonn, Germany (Curator: Lorenza Sannai)
Art Market San Francisco  Invited by Adler & Co. Gallery, San Francisco
 Aqua Art Miami Invited by Projects Gallery, Miami

2014 
Doppler Shift  Visual Art Center of New Jersey, Summit (Curator: Mary Birmingham)
Swept Away: Translucence, Transparence, Transcendence  Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, New Jersey
Best of 2014: From the Studios of Gallery Artists  Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, New York
To Leo: A Tribute from the American Abstract Artists  Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn
Relative Geometries Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson
Summer Invitational  Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York City
Summer Studio Salon  Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
Spectrum   A Gallery, Provincetown, Mass.
Art Silicon Valley  Invited by Adler & Co. Gallery, San Francisco
Aqua Art Miami  Invited by Projects Gallery, Miami

2013 
Swept Away: Translucence, Transparence, Transcendence  Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, Mass. (Curator: Michael Giaquinto)
Eight Women  Susan Maasch Fine Art, Portland, Maine
Whiter Shade of Pale Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, New York
Elephant in the Room  Laconia Gallery, Boston  (Curators: Linda Cordner and James Hull)13
Summer Show  DM Contemporary, New York, New York
Materiality  Westchester Community College, Valhalla, New York (Curator: Kenise Barnes)
Paperazzi Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn
Aqua Art Miami  Invited by Projects Gallery, Philadelphia and Miami
Art Hamptons  Invited by Arden Gallery, Boston
Art Market San Francisco  Invited by Adler & Co. Gallery, San Francisco

2012 
Patterns, Systems, Structures: Abstraction in American Art  Montclair  (N.J.) Art Museum (Curator: Gail Stavitsky)
Super Saturated: Pigment and Pattern Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, New York (Curator: Kenise Barnes)
Lush Geometry  DM Contemporary, New York City
Rolling in the Deep  Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont
Affordable Art Fair  Los Angeles  and New York City, Invited by Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson
Art Naples  Invited by Projects Gallery, Philadelphia and Miami

.
2011 
Aqua ArtMiami Invited by Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson
Drawing The Line #11, June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, Maine
Women in Wax  Sarasota Arts Center, Sarasota, Florida  (Curator: Elena De la Ville)
Kindred Spirits Schiltkamp Gallery, Clark University, Worcester, Mass. (Curator: Toby Sisson)
Sheer Color Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, Arizona
The Summer Show  DM Contemporary, New York City
Plane Speaking  McKenzie Fine Art, New York City
Baby It's Cold Outside  Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, New York

.
2010 
Aqua ArtMiami Invited by Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson
Viewing Room  Heidi Cho Gallery, New York City
Pull: Print Portfolio Exhibition Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
Castleton Twelve Project Space, Castleton, New York (Curators: Lisa Mackie and Peter Mackie)
Art Hamptons Invited by DM Contemporary, New York
July Salon June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, Maine
Geometric Themes and Variations Gallery 128, New York (Curator: Gloria Klein)
Inspire Amy Simon Fine Art, Westport, Connecticut
Oasis Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson
Director's Choice Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, New York
Love, Lust and Desire II McGowan Fine Art, Concord, New Hampshire

.
2009 
Manhattan Preview DM Contemporary/Manhattan
Per Square Foot Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson
Slippery When Wet Metaphor Contemporary Art, Brooklyn
Summer Guest House Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
Obsessions Adler & Co. Gallery, San Francisco
Stayin' Alive Metaphor Contemporary Art, Brooklyn
GeoMetrics II Gallery 128, New York City (Curator: Gloria Klein)
Castle Hill at the Provincetown (Mass.) Art Association and Museum, Hans Hoffman Gallery
Gallery Artists: Works On Paper June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, Maine
Love, Lust and Desire McGowan Fine Art, Concord, New Hampshire
Los Angeles Art Show Invited by Adler & Co. Gallery, San Francisco

.
2008 
Material Color Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, New Jersey (Curator: Mary Birmingham)
No Chromophobia OK Harris Works of Art, New York City (Curator: Richard Witter)
Small Wonder Garson Baker Fine Art, New York City
Relative Geometries Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson
Gifts from the Studio Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont
This Just in Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
Adler Group Show Adler & Co. Gallery, San Francisco
Calculated Color Higgins Art Gallery, Barnstable, Mass. (Curator: Jane Lincoln)
A Breath of Fresh Air Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont
Fourth Anniversary Exhibition DM Contemporary, Mill Neck, New York
Los Angeles Art Show Invited by Adler & Co. Gallery, San Francisco
Art Now Fair New York City, Invited by DM Contemporary, Mill Neck, New York

.
2007 
Punchbowl Metaphor Contemporary Art, Brooklyn, New York
The Blogger Show Agni Gallery, New York City (Organizer: John Morris)
Gigantic Small Works Show Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia
The Fusion Project June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, Maine
Adler Group Show Adler & Co. Gallery, San Francisco
Encaustic Invitational Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson
Art Now Fair Miami Beach, invited by DM Contemporary, Mill Neck, New York
Los Angeles Art Show Invited by Adler and Co. Gallery, San Francisco

2006 
Neo Plastic Redux Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York City (Organizer: Miles Manning)
Gigantic Small Works Show Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia
Nancy Manter, Joanne Mattera, Babe Shapiro DM Contemporary, Mill Neck, New York
A Thing of Beauty and A Joy Forever Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont
Minimal Minimal Works Gallery, Philadelphia
Luminous Depths Ben Shahn Galleries, Wm. Paterson University, Wayne, N.J. (Curator: Nancy Einreinhofer)
Adler Group Show Adler & Co. Gallery, San Francisco
Order(ed) Siano Gallery, Philadelphia (Curator: Julie Karabenick with essay by Roberta Fallon)
Flow Art Fair Miami Beach, invited by Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont
Art (212) Fair New York, invited by Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
Los Angeles Art Show Invited by Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale

2005
What Did Puck Say? Heidi Cho Gallery, New York City
Engaging the Structural  Broadway Gallery, New York City (Curator: Julie Karabenick)
Cooled and Collected: Modern Masters of Contemporary Encaustic, Boon Gallery, Salem, Mass.
Wish You Were Here IV A.I.R. Gallery, New York City
Color Theory Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, New York (Curator: Kenise Barnes)
Wax Brush Gallery, Lowell, Mass. (Curator: E. Linda Poras)
Works On Paper Invitational Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale
Wax Works McGowan Fine Arts, Concord, New Hampshire
AAF Contemporary Fair New York, invited by Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta

.
2004 
Color Theory Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, New York
Unbound: Selected Artists from ‘The Art of Encaustic Painting’ R&F Gallery, Kingston, New York (Curator: Laura Moriarty)
Four New York Artists Patrick Olson Gallery, Plymouth, Michigan
AAF Contemporary Fair New York, invited by Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta

.
2003 
Encaustic Now II Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
Wish You Were Here Too A.I.R. Gallery, New York City
The Way of Wax Winfisky Gallery at Salem State College, Salem, Mass.
Serenity Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale
AAF Contemporary Fair New York, Thatcher Projects, New York City
Art Santa Fe Invited by Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale
Tickled Pink Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
Art Miami Invited by Arden Gallery, Boston

.
2002 
Work on Paper Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
Lush Abstraction Melanee Cooper Gallery, Chicago
Hot Wax Cummings Art Center at Connecticut College, New London
Artcetera Boston Center for the Arts, Boston
Works on Paper Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale
The Postcard Show A.I.R. Gallery, New York City
Water Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale
Enkaustikos: Wax As a Contemporary Medium Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia
Centering Sonoma Museum of Visual Art, Santa Rosa, California
Generations III A.I.R. Gallery, New York City
AAF Contemporary Fair New York, Thatcher Projects, New York City
Art San Francisco Invited by Newzones Gallery, Calgary, Canada

.
2001 
Encaustic Now Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
Encaustic Works Arden Gallery, Boston
The Art of Encaustic Painting Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale
Encaustic: Joanne Mattera and Friends Melanee Cooper Gallery, Chicago
Big Painting Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale
Deck the Walls Newzones Gallery, Calgary

.
2000 
Constant Aesthetic Stephen Haller Gallery, New York City
Generations II: A Survey of Women Artists at the Millennium A.I.R Gallery, New York City
Aesthetic Boundaries Stephen Haller Gallery, New York City
The Other Side and This Side: The Art of Italian and Italian-American Women Casa Italiana, New York City
Pieces IV Gallery 128, New York City (Curator: Sylvia Netzer)
Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, Tennessee

.
1999 
Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey (Curator: Gail Stavitsky)
Signs, Codes and Surfaces Stephen Haller Gallery, New York City
Pieces III Gallery 128, New York City (Curator: Sylvia Netzer)
Los Angeles National Patricia Correia Gallery, Santa Monica

.
1998 
Contemporary Wax Stephen Haller Gallery, New York City
Small Works Washington Square East Gallery, New York City
Generations A.I.R. Gallery, New York City
Ron Ehrlich, Gregory Johnston, Joanne Mattera, Hiro Yokose Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta

1997 
Cultural Markers Stephen Haller Gallery, New York City
1+1=3: Independent Artists, Collaborative Art Alicia Torres Fine Art, New York City
Material Girls: Gender, Process and Abstract Art Since 1970 Gallery 128, New York City (Curator: Harmony Hammond)
Inaugural Show Christine Adapon Gallery, Manila

1996 
Cultural Markers Stephen Haller Gallery, New York City

1995 
Small Works Stephen Haller Gallery, New York City
Virtuosity Art Fair The Armory, New York, invited by Stephen Haller Gallery, New York City

1994
 Waxing Minimal: Joanne Mattera, Inger Sand Lee, Tom Sime Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York City
Signs, Codes & Alphabets Tribeca 148, New York City
Small Works Washington Square East Gallery, New York City

1993
 93 Wishes for '94 Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, New York City
Small Works East West Cultural Center, New York City
Works on Paper Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Mass. (Curator: Andre Emmerich)


SELECTED AWARDS ANDS HONORS
2018  Honorary vice president, National Association of Women Artists, New York City
2012  Honoree, Castle Hill Comes to NYC, National Arts Club, New York City
2007  Ella Jackson Chair, Castle Hill Center for the Arts, Truro, Massachusetts
2005  Artist’s Resource Trust grant, a fund of the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, Massachusetts
Ongoing Inclusion in 
Geoform, an international collection of abstract geometric art curated by Julie Karabenick


SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Museum and University

Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey

New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut
Connecticut College, Print Collection
University Libraries Collection, State University of New York at Albany
University of Tennessee, Ewing Gallery
U.S. State Department
U.S. Embassies, Slovenia and Poland
Wheaton College, Beard and Weill Galleries, Permanent Collection, Norton, Massachusetts
Corporate

Alston & Bird, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

Bank of America, New York City
Beacon Properties, Boston
Dana Farber Institute, Boston
Delta Airlines, Boston
Eduardo Calma Architecture, Makati City, Philippines
Evans Encaustics, Sonoma, California
Liberty Mutual, Boston
McKee Nelson, New York City

Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York
Norwegian Cruise Lines
Pacific Peninsula Group, Menlo Park, California
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Florham Park, New Jersey
R&F Paints, Kingston, New York
Red Wheel/Weiser Books, Boston
University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, Dallas
Private collections
United States, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, Japan, China, the Philippines


CURATORIAL PROJECTS

2023 A Legacy of Making: 21 Contemporary Italian American Artists Calandra Institute, New York City (co-curator with Joseph Sciorra)

2021 Italianità, an ongoing online project with 70+ artists of Italian American heritage
2017 
Depth Perception co-curator (with Cherie Mittenthal) at Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, Mass.
2015 
A Few Conversations About Color  DM Contemporary, New York City
2013 Cotton, juror for second anniversary show at Fountain Street Fine Art, Framingham, Mass.
2012 
Improbable Topographies curator, Rice Polak Gallery, Provincetown, Mass.
2012 
Textility  co-curator (with Mary Birmingham), Visual Art Center of New Jersey, Summit
2011 
Encaustic Works 2012  juror for an exhibition in print, R & F Gallery, Kingston, New York
2011 
Surface Attraction   co-curator (with Marla Rice), Rice Polak Gallery, Provincetown, Mass.
2011 
New England Collective II  juror, Galatea Fine Art, Boston
2011 
Conversations  co-curator (with Laura Moriarty) at R & F Gallery, Kingston, N.Y
2009 
Blogpix  one of several curators, Platform Project Space, New York City
2007 
Luxe, Calme et Volupte’  curator, Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
2007 Thinking in Wax  juror, Castle Hill Center for the Arts, Truro, Mass.
2003 The Whole Ball of Wax  juror, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago
1993 Objects of Their Affection  curator, InterArt Center, New York City
1982 Artists on the Grid  curator, Svetlana Rockwell Gallery, Cambridge


AFFILIATIONS
Director Emerita, International Encaustic Conference, Provincetown, Mass. (founder, 2007)
Member, American Abstract Artists
Artist Advisory Council, Taller Puertorriqueño, Philadelphia

      
VISITING ARTIST
2013 School of Visual and Peforming Arts, Endicott College, Beverly, Massachusetts
2011 College of Visual and Performing Arts, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
2011 Visiting Artist and Scholars Series, Georgia State University, Atlanta
2010-05 Massachusetts College of Art, Boston; Visiting Lecturer, 2D Fine Arts Department
2009 Distinguished Visiting Artist series, Marywood University, Scranton, Pa.
2007 Ella Jackson Chair, Castle Hill Center for the Arts, Truro, Massachusetts
2007 Montana State University, Bozeman
2002 Weissman Visiting Artist, Connecticut College, New London
1999 University of New York at Albany


WRITING
Ongoing 
Joanne Mattera Art Blog, reports, observations and opinions

2023 Italianità: Contemporary Art Inspired by the Italian Immigrant Experience, editor, Well-Fed Artist Press

2022 Castle Hill Voices: Fifty Years (contributor), edited by Harriet Bee, Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill

2019 Vita, a Memoir: Growing Up Italian, Coming Out, and Making a Life in Art, Well-Fed Artist Press
2019 "Interlacements and Intersections," essay for The Language of Making, 40th anniversary catalog of the Textile Study Group of New York
2018-2013 Editor in chief, 
ProWax Journal
2018 Constructs and Contradictions, catalog essay, second edition, for Organic to Geometric: Investigations in Structure and Surface at the Provincetown Art Assoc. and Museum, Provincedtown, Mass., curated by Carol Pelletier
2017 Digging Deep, curator's essay for Depth Perception at Cape Cod Museum of Art 
2015 Constructs and Contradictions, catalog essay for Organic to Geometric: Investigations in Structure and Surface  at the  Heftler Gallery, Endicott College, Beverly, Mass., curated by Carol Pelletier
2013 
Extravagant Light, catalog essay for Swept Away at Cape Cod Museum of Art, curated by Michael Giaquinto 
2013 "Making Room in New Haven," essay for Making Room, curated by Suzan Shutan
2012 
Far From the Rolling Queue: The Lingering Virtues of Art Blogs, Artcritical.com, September 24
2012 
Material Means: Diverse Practices, Common Threads, curator's essay for Textility, Visual Art Center of New Jersey, Summit
2012 "Everything into the Pool," juror's essay for Encaustic Works '12 exhibition in book form, Gallery at R&F, Kingston, New York
2011 "Sheila Hicks: Fifty Years," Surface Design Journal, Summer issue
2010 "Affinities: Fiber and Wax," Surface Design Journal, Winter issue     
2007 Luxe, Calme et Volupte: A Meditation on Visual Pleasure, essay for my curated exhibition at the Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta
2007 "Exquisite Dualities: The Recent Paintings of Alexandre Masino," essay
2007 "Material Witness: Silken Surfaces in Wax," essay of my work for the Surface Design Journal, Fall issue
2006 "Encaustic: The ‘New’ Art Medium, Just 2000 Years Old," essay for
2006 "Luminous Depths" catalog and exhibition
2006 "Dancing Shards: Between Order and Intuition," essay for painter Gloria Klein
2005 "Betsy Eby: Give and Take," essay for the Seattle-based painter
2001 The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax, Watson-Guptill, New York
1981-83 Fiberarts, Editor in Chief


SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
2023 Past/Present: American Abstract Artist Members Honor Their Predecessors, AAA publications

2019 Chromatopia: An Illustrated History of Color, Thames and Hudson; David Coles

2015 Experience Painting, Davis Publications; John Howell White
2014 Italian American Review, Calandra Institute, Vol 4., No. 1; cover
2011 Against the Tide, Two Coats of Paint Press; Sharon Butler
2011 The Art of Reading Italian Americana, Bordighera Press; Fred Gardaphé; cover
2010 Encaustic with a Textile Sensibility, Waxy Buildup Press; Daniella Woolf
2009 The Artist's Guide: Making A Living Doing What You Love, Da Capo; Jackie Battenfield
2005 Abstract Painting, Watson Guptill; Vicky Perry
2003 In Our Own Voices: Perspectives on Italian and Italian-American Women, Bordighera; Eliz. G. Messina, ed.
2001 Spirit Maps, Red Wheel/Weiser; Joanna Arettam
2000 Lesbian Art in America, Rizzoli;  Harmony Hammond
1999 Waxing Poetic, Montclair Art Museum/Rutgers Univ. Press; Gail Stavitsky, ed..

Print and Online

2924

Artscope, "Cornered: Joanne Mattera," January/February

2023

Two Coats of Paint, An Italian American Colloquy with Joanne Mattera and John Avelluto, November

La Repubblica, Emigrazione e Integrazione: due mostre a New York danno voce all'arte italo-americana, December

2022

The Art Section, Contemplating the Horizontal: A Conversation Between Joanne Mattera and Deanna SIrlin, July

2021

Connecticut Examiner, Fosnot Gallery Highlights 16 Critics' Picks, Cate Hewitt, December 17

2020

The Boston Globe, "Editor's Pick," Cate McQuaid, December 4
 2019
Steven Alexander Journal 
More Memorable Shows from 2019
The Art Section: An Online Journal of Art and Cultural Commentary, A Life in Art: A Dialogue with Joanne Mattera, Deanna Sirlin
Gallery Travels, Joanne Mattera, Anne Russinof, November 11
Two Coats of Paint, 
Joanne Mattera Remembers, Sharon Butler, June 18
2018
Boston Voyager, 
Meet Joanne Mattera
2017
Provincetown Arts, Joanne Mattera,  Jan Lhormer, 2017 issue
2016
The New Criterion, 
Gallery Chronicle, James Panero, March
2015
ArtsATL, 
Math is Beautiful in Quirky "august geometry" at Marcia Wood Gallery, Jerry Cullum, August 26
Bedford + Bowery, When 111 Artists Find Each Other Through Facebook, Rob Scher, Aug. 3
Westword, Artists Repeat Themselves in Pattern, an Elegant Group Show . . . , Michael Paglia, May 20
Artscope, Formal Aspects at the Cape Cod Museum of Art , Rhiannon Leigh, March 23
2014
The New Criterion, 
Gallery Chronicle, James Panero, November
Hyperallergic, 
Profaning Geometry, Venerating Uncertainty, Peter Malone, July 11
Painter's Progess, 
Have You Met Joanne Mattera?, Stephen B. MacInnis, January 15
2013
Maine Sunday Telegram, Is There A New Vein in Abstract Painting in Maine?, Daniel Kany; December 29, 2013
Artscope, "Joanne Mattera: Chromatic Geometries," Elizabeth Michelman; September/October
Two Coats of Paint,  
Joanne Mattera's New Angle, Sharon Butler; September 8 (excerpted in Painters' Table)
Art New England, "The Elephant in the Room," David Raymond; July/August
Artscope, "Swept Away: Translucence, Transparence, Transcendence in Contemporary Encaustic," J. Fatima Martins; May-June

2012 

Buddy of Work, Henry Samelson, ed., October 16
Huffington Post, 
Rolling in the Deep at Kenise Barnes Fine Art, D. Dominick Lombardi; July 2
Syracuse Post-Standard, 
The Power of Patterns, Katherine Rushworth, Sunday, August 5
.2011
Artcritical, 
Get Lost! Victims and Victors of the Art Fair Grid, David Cohen; December 2
Boston Globe Magazine, 
Keeping it Simple, Jaci Conry; November 13, 2011
Artcritical, 
Artists Who Write Write for a Purpose, George Hofmann; August 31
ArtscriticATL, "Joanne Mattera at Marcia Wood Gallery," Felicia Feaster; May 13
2010 
Artcritical, 
Abstraction in a Cold Climate, Franklin Einspruch; December
Culture Surfing, Marcia Wood Pulls Her Artists in Different Directions, Deanna Sirlin; Oct. 7
Maine Sunday Telegram, Refinement Multiplied, Philip Isaacson; July 25
Portland Phoenix, Bright Lines at June Fitzpatrick, Nicholas Schroeder; July 20
2009 
Zocalo, Per Square Foot at Conrad Wilde, Dolly Spaulding, December 10
View List at Minus Space, Bulletin Board: Inspiration Information, curated by Karen Schifano
Making the Art Seen, 
Featured Painter: Joanne Mattera, interview by Sand T, July
The Artist's Career Guide, 
Reality Check interview with Joanne Mattera by Jackie Battenfield, June
Artscope, "Third Annual Conference of Encaustic Painting," Brian Goslow; May-June issue
NYC Art, GeoMetrics II, Chris Rywalt; March 25
Venetian Red, 
Artists in Conversation: Joanne Mattera's Journey of Visual Pleasure, Liz Hager; February
2008
The Boston Globe, "Color Their World," Cate McQuaid; December 17
Berkshire Fine Arts, 
Boston's Newbury Street Galleries, Shawn Hill; December 27
Kate Beck :: Art Notes, 
Essentials of Light: Pure Color, Kate Beck, August 19
Steven Alexander Journal, 
Joanne Mattera,  Steven Alexander; March 15
2007 
Art New England, "Art Criticism on the Internet," Raymond A. Liddell; December
Lowell Sun, "Whole Ball of Wax," Barbara Rizza Mellin; November 12
Provincetown Banner, "When Art Runs Hot and Cold," Melora B. North; August 23
Atlanta Journal Constitution, "Spirit of Baudelaire, Matisse Flows," Debra Wolf; July 8

The New York Sun, Joanne Mattera: Silk Road at OK Harris, Maureen Mullarkey; May 3
2006
The Boston Globe, "A Clever Pairing," Cate McQuaid; September 14
Fallon and Rosof’s Artblog, "Order(ed),
 review by Libby Rosof, May 17
Look, See, Joanne Mattera's Encaustic Paintings, essay by Chris Ashley, April 16
2005 
Art News, 
How to Talk to An Artist, Gail Gregg; June
NY Arts, 
Geometry Reloaded, Lilly Wei; April/May
Syracuse Post-Standard, Color This Exhibit…, Katherine Rushworth; May 15
NYArts, "On and Off the Grid: In Conversation with Joanne Mattera," Julie Karabenick; Feb/March
New York Times, "‘Unbound: Selected Artists,"’ D. Dominick Lombardi; Jan. 2
2004 
Boston Globe, 
An Eyeful of Color, Cate McQuaid; December 10
Traditional Home, "A Fresh Shade of Bungalow," Eliot Nusbaum; Sept.
Arts Media, "Artists Wax Enthusiastic," Rachel Strutt; March
2003 
Boston Sunday Globe, "Critics’ Picks," Christine Temin; April 28
Boston Globe, "Critics’ Picks," Cate McQuaid; April 18
Arts Media, 
Joanne Mattera: Paintings in Encaustic, Shawn Hill; April-May
IONS Review, Barbara McNeill, ed., portfolio; Issue 63, March-June
The Week, 
Joanne Mattera at Arden Gallery, Boston, April 19
Scottsdale Republic, "Eclectic Mix at Cervini Haas," Roberta Burnett, April 16
IONS Review, Barbara McNeill, ed., portfolio; Issue 62, Dec. 02–Feb. 03
2002 
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Expanding the Possibilities of Paper," Jerry Cullum; November 15
New York Times, "Hot Wax," William Zimmer; November 10
Philadelphia Inquirer, "Novel Process, Classical Elegance," Edward J. Sozanski; May 19
Philadelphia Weekly, "Play On," Roberta Fallon; May 10
Philadelphia Daily Local News, "Ancient Medium Explored Again," R.B. Strauss; May 4
Boston Sunday Globe, "The Process," Catherine Foster; March 3
Art New England, "The Art of Encaustic Painting," book review, Susan Schwalb; Feb/March
2001 
Arizona Republic, "Beauty of Encaustic Has its Price," John Carlos Villani, November 8
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Waxing Eloquent," Catherine Fox; October 12
2000 
Manila Today, "Art Guide," review; June 6
The Philippine Star, "Gallery News," review; June 5
Art in America, 
Joanne Mattera at Marcia Wood, Jerry Cullum; March
Design and Architecture (Manila), "An Italian Spell in Tagaytay," Alane Ty; February
1999

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mattera Infuses Modernist Grid with New Depth, Jerry Cullum; July
1997 
New York Arts, "Picks," Christopher Chambers; October
Atlanta Journal Constitution, "Four Artists," Jerry Cullum; October 3
William and Mary Review, Erica Weitzman ed., portfolio; Vol. 35

Earlier
1994 Artforum, "Objects of Their Affection at Interart Center," Keith Seward; February
1981 Art Voices, "Joanne Mattera," Jessica Scarborough; July/August
1981 Driadi, "Du Blanc a la Couleur," Michel Thomas; April
1981 Maenad, "Joanne Mattera," portfolio; Spring 1981
1980 Sojourner, "Risks Pay Off," Jessica Scarborough; August
1980 American Craft, "Joanne Mattera," portfolio; " Spring

Catalogs and Essays
2019 
From Dawn to Dusk  Well-Fed Artist Press, with essay by Ellen Hackl Fagan
2019 Blurring Boundaries Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and American Abstract Artists
2018 
Organic to Geometric: Investigations in Structure and Surface second edition, Provincetown Art 
2018 Association and Museum, Provincetown, Mass.
2018 The Blues Adam Peck Gallery, Provincetown; A Gallery Press; Marian Peck, editor
2017 
Depth Perception  Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, Massachusetts2018 
2017 Black Tie Adam Peck Gallery, Provincetown; A Gallery Press; Marian Peck, editor
2016 
Silk Road: Excerpts from an Ongoing Series  Well-Fed Artist Press; second edition
2016 The Onward of Art: American Abstract Artists 80th Anniversary Exhibition, New York City; essay by Karen Wilkin 
2016 No. 10 Adam Peck Gallery, Provincetown; A Gallery Press; Marian Peck, editor
2015 
Pattern: Geometric/Organic, Space Gallery, Denver; essay by Lynn Biederstadt
2015 Organic to Geometric: Investigations in Surface and Structure  Heftler Gallery, Endicott College, Beverly, Mass.; introduction by curator Carol Pelletier
2015 10 Ways Derbilius Libreria Galleria, Milan; Lorenza Sannai, curator and editor
2014 Doppler Shift  Visual Art Center of New Jersey, Summit; essays by Mary Birmingham, curator, and Thomas Micchelli
2013 
Swept Away: Translucence, Transparence, Transcendence in Contemporary Encaustic  Cape Cod Museum of Art; introduction by Michael Giaquinto, curator
2013 The Elephant in the Room  Laconia Gallery, Boston; essay by Linda Cordner and James Hull
2011 Pull  Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta; essay by Jerry Cullum
2008 Material Color  Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, New Jersey; essay by Mary Birmingham, curator
2006 Joanne Mattera: Ten Years of Encaustic Painting  for the eponymous exhibition, Salem State University, Salem, Mass.; essays by Flavia Rando and the artist
2006 Order(ed)  for the eponymous exhibition curated by Julie Karabenick at Gallery Siano, Philadelphia; essay, "Beauty, Order and Individuality," by Roberta Fallon
2002 Uttar: Poetics of Materiality and Process  Flavia Rando; from the exhibition, "New Paintings in Encaustic," Simon Gallery, Morristown, N.J.

Education.
M.A., Visual Arts, Goddard College, Plainfield, Vermont
B.F.A., Painting, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston

. . . . . . . .


SELECTED CRITICAL OVERVIEW
.
"Sheer, luminous, living, wafting color."
--Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe, December 4, 2020
 
"August geometry is best experienced as a single extraordinary installation before it is contemplated in terms of individual works. But this is a hard trick to pull off: We’re presented with too many individually distracting tours de force."
-- Jerry Cullum, 
Arts ATL, August 26, 2015 

"I was dazzled by the well-handled triangles of Joanne Mattera's Chromatic Geometry 21 (2014)."
--James Panero, Gallery Chronicles, The New Criterion, November 2014

"Joanne Mattera’s monochromes exude luscious indulgence but are tempered by a savvy sense of portion size. As well, with her small panels on a long wall of panels, Mattera’s eye to the material painterly edge and its role in scale come across with surprising clarity."
--Daniel KanyMaine Sunday Telegram, December 29, 2013

"Her game is formal as she determines what kinds of color relationships to set in motion and how to balance or destabilize them within the geometrical structures that hold them."
--Elizabeth Michelman, Artscope, September/October 2013

"As usual, Mattera demonstrates tremendous mastery over her materials and a seductive approach to color, while introducing some quirky compositional strategies. Although she usually discusses her work in terms of formal exploration, the timeless fascination of the figure-ground reversal that points to our shifting notions of meaning and perception is compelling on a metaphorical level as well."
--Sharon Butler, 
Two Coats of Paint, September 8, 2013

"Joanne Mattera's Diamond Life 20 has a structural rigor that counters the dreamy side of waxy paint. Her work has the near dry juice of the medium that suggests the poise of Piero della Francesca."
--David Raymond, Art New England, July/August, 2013

"Coming up For Air (2012) is a testament to the command that she has for her medium. Using a coarsely bristled brush and applying very straight bands of color that waver between precisely taped edges and carefully painted ones sans the tape, Mattera creates a hypnotic blend of visuals that is at once uplifting and calming. I also love the witty title that to me, references . . . the transitions of color one might experience while snorkeling in a pristine coral sea. "
--D. Dominick Lombardi, The Huffington Post, July 2, 2012

". . . stand-out exhibits at Aqua included . . .the funky abstractionist stable of Conrad Wilde Gallery of Tucson, Arizona, amongst them the sensual encaustic monochromes of Joanne Mattera."
--David CohenArtscritical, December 2, 2011 

"Appreciating this series of paintings [Silk Road] solely on the basis of its tour-de-force technical achievement would be to miss the richer sphere that the work inhabits. Each painting contains the inherent mystique invoked by the series; which is to say, each piece promises a journey full of visual delights without a specific roadmap . . . color on the scale of intimacy that Mattera achieves is a powerful experience.”
--
Liz Hager, Venetian Red, February 2010.
.
“What Joanne has done is lay down encaustic in layers, over and over, and then gone back in with a carving tool and scraped out lines. So each line reveals, through the layers, a varying sampling of the colors she's laid down. The carving is, of course, imprecise and in places stuttering and halting, so you can see the effort and manual nature of the carving, which both brings out and is brought out by the different colors. The effect is far too subtle, in terms of resolution, to look correct in reproduction. In fact these paintings are closer to sculptures; what you also can't get until you see them in person is the very tactile nature of the encaustic, the way its waxy sheen communicates with the carving . . .with Joanne allowing the encaustic to lap over the edges of her panels like the rind on good cheese. Elegant, simple, precise in their imprecision -- very wabi sabi, as the Japanese might say.”
--
Chris Rywalt, NYC Art, March 25, 2009.
.
“Mattera . . . excels in taking encaustic, this oldest of media, in the most lush minimal and formal directions. “Contemplating the Horizontal" features stripes that manage to retain strict geometry while never forgetting the gestural touch of the artist's hand, especially in a subtractive sub-series where wax is scraped away in horizontal bands to reveal underlying layers of color and texture. While most of her panels are square, the show doesn't lack for variety or vibrant color.”
--Shawn Hill, 
Boston's Newbury Street Galleries, Berkshire Fine Arts, December 27, 2008

"These pieces highlight the artist's delicate, almost surgical, touch as she decides how deep to dig, to which level of color. The joyful tones play together, waking up the weary-eyed. The horizontal veins widen and narrow like rivulets. . . Sometimes it's a relief to stop thinking and just gaze on something beautiful."
--Cate McQuaid, "Color Their World," The Boston Globe, December 17, 2008

"Order and beauty form the organizing principle in an engaging new exhibition at Marcia Wood Gallery....Using Baudelaire and Matisse as a springboard for contemporary expression, Mattera's premise is both clever and effective. Fastidious process (order) is essential to aesthetic outcome (beauty). Mattera's selections are smart and pleasing in a show that combines control and creativity, visual and tactile harmony, and individual refrains of luxe, calme et volupte....Verdict: Intelligent and pleasurable."
--Debra Wolf, “Spirit of Baudelaire, Matisse Flows,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, July 8, 2007

“Over the years Joanne Mattera has gradually reduced the imagery in her work to finally arrive at this celebration of color and surface….Mattera combines conceptual order, as embodied in the structure of the grid, with beauty.”
--Joseph Walentini, "New York Views," Abstract Art on Line, May 17, 2007

“The medium itself is very much the subject of "Silk Road," Ms. Mattera's series of small encaustic panels on view at OK Harris. Each panel is a simple expanse of what appears, at quick glance, to be a single color. But owing to the opalescent properties of pigmented beeswax applied in layers, these radiant fields are irreducible to monochrome. Cunning visual subtleties are the raison d'être of the series…The refinement of Ms. Mattera's touch is all the more impressive when weighed against the handling properties of encaustic, which work against finesse. Encaustic begins to cool — and harden — the instant a brush leaves the heated palette.”
--
Maureen Mullarkey, Joanne Mattera at OK Harris Works of Art, The New York Sun, May 3, 2007

“Joanne Mattera is one of the acknowledged American authorities working in encaustic. Her “Uttar 157” shows a mastery that allows the application of the medium in thick, vigorous swipes and encourages the result to stand up above the surface of the work. Its boldness and ravishing color are unique in this event.”
--Philip Isaacson, review of “Fusion: A Portland Encaustic Event,” Maine Sunday TelegramFeb. 18, 2007

 “Mattera provides literate and important insights into the process of creating art.”
--Raymond A. Liddell, Art New England, December/January 2007

"The buildup of drops of wax signifies the passing of time, a real passing as well as a metaphorical one. The poetry of time passing is seen in the light captured in the layers of wax, seemingly frozen in the medium like a seed in amber. Mattera employs in these paintings what she calls 'disciplined intuition." A superb colorist able to evoke emotional content, she contains the expressive elements within the fomality of the grid."
-- Nancy Einreinhofer, curator of "Luminous Depths" at Wm. Paterson University, Wayne, N.J., 2006

“Mattera…is an artist who delights in the process. With a palette influenced by Indian miniature painting and with a love of non-narrative, non-objective expression, Mattera delivers a world of beauty and order in which individual [elements]—with their spontaneous expressions of color, texture, drip, drop and slather—are valued. ‘Uttar 135’ is a statement of peace and a meditation on life’s wonders."
--Roberta Fallon, from the catalog essay, “Order(ed)”, May 2006

“The light in Joanne Mattera’s paintings is about the present and the just passing present. The light is present in the material— it’s physical, and it interacts with the environment and with current lighting conditions. But if her art has what some might call a contemplative dimension it’s because while the light is a thing that draws us in, it’s the way this light is held in the wax, and the way we look below the surface and into the depth of this light-filled wax, that slows down our looking just a beat to an even more present presence, one that is slow enough for us to see passing. If our looking stayed on the surface our attention might glance off and finish. If our looking goes beyond a surface, even if a only a fraction of an inch into a physical depth and a depicted depth, our seeing is more settled. The physical effect is slower looking. The psychological effect is awareness of self in relation to the phenomenological world.”
--Chris Ashley, 
Joanne Mattera's Encaustic Paintingsfrom the blog, “Look, See,” April 5, 2006

“‘Uttar 250,’ part of a continuing series by Joanne Mattera, is the most luxuriant painting here, inspired by the colors of India, by traditional Indian miniature painting with its saffrons, roses, vermilions, indigos, emeralds, cinnabars. Also encaustic, its version of the grid consists of three stacks of more or less even strokes of colors which in turn drip paint, like syrup. This is a voluptuous painting, its grid about to melt down, it seems, into pure, irresistible paint.”
--
Lilly Wei, from the essay, Geometry Reloaded, NY Arts, April 2005

“Mattera revels in the medium’s stained-glass-like luminosity. She’s a colorist whose principal concern is how tones interact and play off one another….Throughout, there’s a sense that light is powering these works.”
--
Cate McQuaid, An Eyeful of Color, The Boston Globe, December 10, 2004

“Mattera’s play of color and luminosity is beguiling.”
--Rachel Strutt, Arts Media (Boston), March 2004

“Minimalist artists used the grid to downplay the sensuality of color and brushstrokes. The austerity helped focus the viewer’s attention on pigment as pigment, line as line—a primary concern of 60’s minimalism. Joanne Mattera has a different agenda. She uses grids the way classical poets used rigorous rhyme schemes: to impose elegant order onto an otherwise messy outpouring of emotion.”
--Staff review, The Week (New York City), April 18, 2003

“Mattera’s square panels light up the intimate space of the gallery…Mattera’s squares, dots and stripes are minimal, but just enough to hold her emotive colors together. Each painting is a distinct world.”
--
Shawn Hill, Joanne Mattera at Arden Gallery, Boston, Arts Media, April 15-May 15, 2003

“’Uttar’ is intimate, embodying the artist’s emotional response to the emotional world. Mattera is in love with color, with material, with process….For Mattera, the process of making art is a process of intuition working within a disciplined framework.”
--Flavia Rando, Ph.D., from the essay, "Uttar: Poetics of Materiality and Process," September, 2002

“Joanne Mattera is represented by nine paintings from her ‘Uttar’ series. The sweep in these one-foot-square paintings of encaustic on panel is in the vibrant color, paced by how the compositions grow from one piece to the next.”
--R.B. Strauss, Philadelphia Daily Local News, May 4, 2002

“One of the nation’s premier encaustic specialists.”
--John Carlos Villani, The Arizona Republic, November 18, 2001

“Mattera’s expert manipulation of beeswax in encaustic creates works of finesse and subtlety.”
--Staff review, The Philippine Star, June 5, 2000

“Despite the complex formal relations present in these works, the overall tone is intuitive rather than cerebral and defines Mattera as a particularly adept representative of poetic intelligence.”--
Jerry Cullum, Art in America, March, 2000

“Encaustic, the successive layering of melted colored wax, is one of the world’s oldest ways of putting down pigment on a surface. New York artist Joanne Mattera finds ways to wring contemporary content from the method. Many of her works start with the almost universal theme of the modernist grid, wrenching the grid asunder in various energized and interesting ways….Mattera succeeds in achieving many visual outcomes with a limited range of materials, producing works in which every scratch and drip yield something different.”
--
Jerry Cullum, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 17, 1999

“Joanne Mattera…employs a grid-based field for her sensuous abstract encaustic paintings. She works with a classic formula of beeswax colored with oil-based dispersion pigments to build up as many as twenty layers of translucent paint. The surface is further enriched through incising lines into which pigment is rubbed, making marks with oil stick or oil pastel, or scraping to reveal previous strata.”
--Gail Stavitsky, curator, Montclair Art Museum, from the catalog, "Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America," 1999


. . . . .


Selected Reviews

Provincetown Arts 


August Geometry

Profaning Geometry, Hyperallergic 

Chromatic Geometries, Artscope  

Super Saturated: The Power of Patterns

Joanne Mattera at OK Harris 

Geometry Reloaded 

Color Theory  

An Eyeful of Color


. . . . .

SELECTED CURATORIAL PROJECTS
 


Italianità 
 
Current, online: I invited 74 Italian American visual artists to talk about how their ethnicity informs their work. The stories are as compelling as the images 
 
   
 

A Few Conversations About Color
 
2015, at DM Contemporary, New York City: This is what happened when seven colorists allowed their work to take part in a visual discourse
 
   
 

Textility
 
2012, at the Visual Art Center of New Jersey, Summit:  The institution's curator, Mary Birmingham, invited me to co-curate a show that looks at the work of artists who use conventional artmaking materials to evince textiles and those who use textile materials to create painting and sculpture