BIO

Joyce Pommer was born in Quincy, Massachusetts and studied at The Academy of Art College in San Francisco, The Art Institute of Boston and the Art Students League in New York City.  She has exhibited widely in solo and group shows in New York and across the country and her work is in numerous private collections.  Pommer’s colorful abstract mixed media paintings originate from a spontaneous process using oil and different papers collaged onto surfaces of canvas, metal or wood to create depth and movement using the color and different materials in the space. New works include oils/acrylics on paper using a unique process to produce intriguing abstract designs. Her larger works on canvas were in a solo exhibition at Southwest Minnesota State University Art Museum in Marshall, MN in the summer of 2008.  Joyce lives and works in New York City and is the owner of Franklin 54 Gallery + projects in Chelsea NYC. Gallery affiliations include Gallery 705, Stroudsburg, PA and the Pritzker Gallery, Highland, NY. 

 “…. Pommer does not begin with preconceived plans.  Her approach is improvisational, and her nature-inspired abstractions are freely moving.  She occasionally introduces flatly painted areas to provide open relief and contrast to areas with clusters of smaller shapes.  Sometimes fabrics or other materials are incorporated into her painting.  Areas of the paintings are frequently open and atmospheric.  Free paint handling combined with a flexible approach enable Pommer to take advantage of interesting so-called “accidents” that occur while painting.  Pommer says that placing different colors next to one another presents a new direction and movement within the painting.  “I see something different- a new path or a deeper space.”  Pommer’s intuitive approach and trust in feelings relates to historical art such as Kandinsky’s improvisation paintings and also the American abstract expressionists’ paintings of the 1950’s”, Gallery 705, Stroudsburg, PA

“Joyce Pommer's exuberant paintings also combine paper and paint in dynamic, free flowing movements that express beauty and happiness.  The artist works with a collage of diverse papers onto the surface of canvas or board and spontaneously invents with color both additive and subtractive to complete her painting.  Emotional memories of her personal journeys interface with the materials and process to unify and create the individual work.  Both large and small scale works brighten up a winter display with a fauvist palette of dramatic color”, Dorothy Cochran, Director, The Galleries at the Interchurch Center, NYC