Joan was born in Portland, Oregon where she retired as bookkeeper for the Oregon Historical Society. She has
two sons. One son lives in Portland and works for the Rose Community Housing Development, an organization who fixes up
older homes for low income housing and is the father of her granddaughter. Her other son is an attorney in Washington D.C.
Joan began painting about 12‐13 years

ago, and when she semi‐retired to Astoria10 years ago she took a class at Clatsop Community College from Shirley Dahlsten. Shirley in turn told her about Trail’s End Art Association. Once she joined, Susan Bish helped her to feel welcomed as Susan has works two days a week at the Astoria
Library. When talking about her painting, Joan says that it has become an important part of her life and something she has to do. Her work has been selected for the international juried competition Au Naturel and she has shown at Grace Episcopal Gallery, TEAA, and the Shearwater Gallery in Seaside.