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ABOUT THE ARTIST

Working mainly in oil and oil pastel on a variety of surfaces, Joan is presently exploring the limits of color and pattern in the beautiful Montana landscape. She grew up in upstate New York, received a bachelors degree in Fine Art from Michigan State University, and has resided in the West since 1962.

 

She currently resides in McAllister, Montana in the Madison Valley where she and her husband Dale have a home overlooking the Madison River. The Valley is bounded on the west by the Tobbacco Root Range, the Madison Range to the east, the Gravelly Range, and the Centenial Range to the south. Yellowstone National Park is 65 miles to the east. 

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Joan grew up in upstate New York where her family lived out the winters in Rochester, and spent the summers at 'the farm' 120 acres in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains. The farm was Joan's treasured spot where she and her younger sister spent hot summer days building forts in the woods or bringing salamanders and tadpoles from the creek as surprises for their mother. Eventually the family sold the house in Rochester and moved to the farm.

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Joan spent the last two years of high school there and then to college. She eventually received a bachelors degree in Fine Art from Michigan State University and met Lynn Mason who graduated with a degree in Forestry. They married in 1962 and moved west. They were married 58 years when Lynn passed away in 2020.

 

Joan met Dale Brownscombe in 2022 and they were married a year later. They both enjoy art and going to gallery openings as well as reading and relaxing. 

 

Joan has taught painting and drawing and has had many solo and group shows over the years. Teaching is a joy in her life as she loves to see the 'light' go on in the eyes of a person who didn't think they could be creative.

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