Artists Registry
Greenwood Village CO United States
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Artist's Statement
Statement of Work
Unlike the elephant graveyard I saw in Kenya just days after I saw the destruction of 9/11, the graveyard of Ground Zero yielded no bones to mourn. Both the matriarch’s death in Africa, and the deaths of thousands in New York occurred under shining blue skies; both were tragedies for me to behold, and profound lessons in mortality. There, the similarities end.
Vaporized human beings left no trace at Ground Zero for survivors to mourn. Photographs, candles and flowers bloomed at the site, answering the need for a corporeality – a physical sign to aid the mourning process and ritually face the loss of the beloved.
By contrast, the herd of Kenyan elephants marched for days with singular intent: the matriarch leading them wanted to die among her ancestors, as had her relatives before her. The herd would keep vigil against buzzards and hyenas to allow the matriarch a peaceful death without pain. The elephants trumpeted grief and paced the graveyard for days, awaiting the matriarch’s death, while carnivores stood ready to clean the flesh from the bones. But at the World Trade Center, firemen rushed in to look for survivors to rescue, and found . . . no bones, no remains at all. For the next year, they would sift and clean only ash and rubble. To exorcise the demons that sprang from this unthinkable fact, I created the two visions – Kenya and Ground Zero – simultaneously and side by side, in a studio, haunted until the horror was expressed outside of my nightmare-cursed self, and on canvases large enough to swallow my vision even unto the periphery.
As both pieces developed, I uncovered another fact about the 21st century: ritual is dead, and we stand amazed by the time and care and deep connection of one elephant to its herd and to the individuals’ remains who preceded its herd. Shouldn’t we be less startled by, and more emulative of, these animal reverences?
--- Joellyn Duesberry, 28 April, 2004
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Retrospectives in Two Mediums:
of paintings at Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, accompanied by book "Elevated Perspective: The Paintings of Joellyn Duesberry" traveling to the Madden Museum, Denver, and the Loveland Museum, closed as of January 12, 2014. The Covenant of Seasons, retrospective of monotypes exhibit organized by Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Traveled to Arvada Art Center, CO; Denver Art Museum, CO; William King Regional Art Center VA; Marsh Gallery of the University of Richmond; VA; Courthouse Galleries, Portsmouth Museum, VA; Tremaine Gallery, The Hotchkiss School, CT. Travel 05 & beyond to NE venues, courtesy Hotchkiss school
Solo Institutional Exhibitions:
Of 70 solo exhibits 13 were in Museums; Century Assoc., NY awarded life membership, traveled to Smith College, MA; Denver Art Museum, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Denver Botanical Gardens, Museum of Outdoor Art, Madden Museum, Museum of Outdoor Arts, Sangre de Christo Center, all in CO; Nicolaysen Museum U. of WY, Bozeman Museum, Yellowstone Museum, Ucross Gallery, all in WY. 2014-15 History CO Center ”Waterworks” part of “Living West” exhibition; 2014: In An Instant, commemorating and opening 9.11.2014 at Fulginiti Pavilion for Bio-Ethics and Humanities at Anschutz Medical Center of the University of Colorado.
Residencies and Lectures:
35 Residencies, Lecture/symposium awards
2014-15 History Colorado Center
2014 VCCA Residency, Moulin a’ Nef in Auvillar France
2014 Rocky Mountain National Park fellowship, Colorado, artist-in-residence lecture, workshop
2013 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
2013 Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Colorado- partial "Presidential" award
2013 Acadia National Park fellowship, Maine
2012 and 2014 Whiskeytown National Park, California
2012 Horned Dorset Arts Colony, New York State
2009 Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Amherst, Virginia
2007-2008 Ucross Foundation, Wyoming
1998-2002 Spring Island Institute, South Carolina and affiliated Roaring Fork Club, Basalt, CO
1998 New York Studio School lecturer
1998 Rhode Island School of Design, Ecology Symposium
1991 Rocky Mountain National Park fellowship, Colorado
Solo Commercial Exhibitions:
53 solo shows in commercial galleries in the following cities:
Manhattan, Olana-on-Hudson and Easthampton, New York; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Oberlin, Ohio; Exeter, New Hampshire; Chicago, Illinois; Sun Valley, Boise, Idaho; Santa Barbara & Los Angeles, California; Scottsdale, Arizona; Northeast Harbor, Camden, Southwest Harbor, Bar Harbor, Rockland, Portland and Somesville, ME; Spring Island, South Carolina; Basalt, Aspen, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction, all Colorado;, Ucross, and U. Wyoming Gallery, both in Wyoming; Lakeville, Connecticut; Millbrook & Millerton, New York; Livingston & Bozeman, MT, Richmond and Fredericksburg, VA.
Commissions and Special Projects:
PBS documentary of my work in two mediums "Joellyn Duesberry: Dialogue with the Artist" 2004
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council award of World Trade Center 6 month residency in North tower, 91st Floor.
The Sonic Memorial Project: sound memories of the world Trade Center and September 11, 2003
Commission of nine monotypes and poster entitled Reudi Reservoir, Colorado for Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, Denver
Awards:
Greatest life achievement: I am a self-taught artist.
These institutions believed in and financed my progress: English-speaking union; Smith College transfer from University of Virginia; Smith Florence summer Fellowship; Smith stipend for German studies and painting at Dartmouth; Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to NYU Institute of Fine Art; NEA Painting Grant; National Academy Altman Landscape Prize, NY; LMCC WTC North Tower 6 month residency; Olana-On-Hudson Residency; Purchase awards from Phoenix Museum, AZ; Cody Museum, WY; Curtis Center, CO; Governor's Office Award, William Ritter, CO; Byron White Courthouse, Denver, 2 painting purchase award; City Hall, Greenwood Village purchase award, Loveland Museum/Gallery purchase Award