Bio

Until 2020, Joy Nunn, was a Utah resident, and a signature member of the Utah Watercolor Society (“UWS”) where she held many offices.  She has recently joined the Watercolor Society of Oregon ("WSO") and looks forward to becoming an active member.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Art History and Theory from The George Washington University. Upon graduation she worked at The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where she researched, developed and conducted tours of the permanent collection for the Education Department, was assistant to Dr. Lestor Cooke, the Curator of Art Evaluations, and worked as an assistant to the former Director, J. Carter Brown.

Her fine arts education began with classes taken through The University of Utah Office of Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning, and was supplemented by many independent and UWS sponsored workshops. 

Fourteen years ago Joy founded Art at the Main, a Utah artists co-operative and art gallery located on the ground floor of the Main Library in downtown Salt Lake City, UT.  She remained its founding Director and an artist member until moving to Oregon. 

Joy’s paintings have been juried into numerous UWS and independently sponsored art shows. She currently has paintings in the Celtic Bank, Salt Lake City, UT, the Utah State Labor Commission, Salt Lake City, UT, Jones Waldo law offices, Salt Lake City, UT, the Sarah Daft Home, Salt Lake City, UT and in numerous privately owned collections. 

Most recent awards include 2010 Juror’s Award from Mike McHaffey for her painting “Heart Songs”, UWS Spring Show, Schorr Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT, 2011 Fourth Place Award for her painting "Harvest Jewels" from the Utah State Fair, Salt Lake City, UT, 2013 Juror’s Award for her painting "Colorful Pears, UWS Small Works Show, Logan Fine Art Gallery, Logan, UT,  and 2018 Genevieve Lawrence Honor Award for her painting "In the Arms of Morpheus" AAUW Utah Women Artists’ Exhibition, Salt Lake City, UT.

In November 2011, an article was published about her Art at the Main Featured Artist Show “Passers By” written by Dale Thompson, published by Artists of Utah/15 Bytes, an on-line art magazine. 

All types of water medium are her favorite means to express the impact of color and composition upon the images she creates. Although her paintings have a realistic basis and reflect favorite subjects including still-life, landscape and glimpses of everyday things and people that catch her eye, she continues to explore this medium in ways which will give her paintings intimacy, emotion and interest.