Meet The Artist
Joanna May
Joanna’s paintings are objects of beauty and magic to be collected and treasured for a lifetime, she aims to touch the soul of the admirer. Her vision creates hauntingly beautiful animals with her ever-adapting style, which can sometimes use unexpected colours, words repeated to form an image, or gold leaf. Some of Joanna’s work is cropped into contemporary compositions which enhance today’s popular minimalist interior design for private homes, boutique hotels or corporate organisations.
Joanna is recognised and collected in the Art Market and has a listing in ‘Who’s Who in Art’. Her work has sold at Christies Auctions. A series of her paintings hang in two of the famous chefs ‘Raymond Blanc’ bedroom suites at his hotel ‘Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons’. She has sold to blue chip organisations such as Standard Chartered Bank and Old Mutual Bank to add to their contemporary art collection. She has also sold her work to many celebrities.
At the beginning of her career, she became well known for painting the British Brown Hare, in 2006 she appeared on the BBC programme ‘Spring Watch’ to talk about them, her life and career. This is still one of her most popular subjects today.
She explains ‘It all started with the hare - what interested me is the mystical side, we don’t know much about them and their habits. I painted the first one when I opened my gallery in Marlborough in 2000. It was a painting I had in my head for seven years when I was illustrating wildlife books. I was thirsty to paint for me and show off my forte of fur detail. My father worked in publishing and, from as far back as I can remember, I wanted to be an artist and he encouraged me, believing it was a worthy career.’
Joanna continues ‘I started by painting animals with photographic realism but became increasingly interested in how my work could fit into an interior, so I continued to adapt my style. I am always excited to come up with something fresh and vibrant. This changed to a new level in 2004 when I had a painting accepted at a Christies ‘Art for Life’ auction. I wanted to do something different with wildlife, so I painted my first Zebra, cropping the pattern to the edge of the canvas. I love the patterns you can find in nature, the stripes of a Zebra and the spots of a Leopard they are a graphic gift!’
‘Style and colour started to influence me further, so after the popularity of my bold Leopards in natural colours, I painted them in bright pink, lime green and purple, aiming for something unique. I want to invigorate nature through its imaginative use of colour and abstraction. So, it’s not merely a lion, tiger, leopard, or zebra because they are personalised to make bold graphic statements to fit in with strong contemporary design.’
‘Nature is full of colour and bold patterns, look at the brightly coloured turquoise of a Morpho Butterfly or the red and green of the Dart Frog. There is a spectrum of colour out there and I love embracing it, especially since the interior market is grabbing jewel-like colours in furnishings and accent walls. Interior Design is something that I’m also passionate about which greatly reflects in my work.’
‘I went through a phase of using words as shading to form animals. My latest work incorporates gold leaf, my aim is to not only capture wildlife but to adorn it to celebrate its beauty.’
‘I adore animals and capturing them realistically is something I always return to; I especially like to capture their soul through their eyes. Another element to my work is to realistically capture people’s
pets. In this work I am back to passionately getting lost in detail. It is a thrill to be able to touch the owner’s heart by bringing to life a portrait in coloured pencil or paint.’
Joanna has appeared on TV, radio, and in many newspaper and magazines articles. In 2012 her work and her beautiful home were featured in the magazine ‘25 Beautiful Homes’. She has worked with many celebrities and wildlife TV presenters to help raise money for conservation and endangered animals raising over £100,000 over the years. She has also worked directly with many conservation groups.
Her career started in 1991 as a book illustrator and in 2001 she opened her first gallery in Marlborough. She has continued to showcase her work through her own gallery’s based in Wiltshire. Opening her last in Corsham, shared with the TV Presenter ‘Paul Martin’,
Please view the flip book which summarises her career called ‘Joanna’s Journey’. Underneath you can press on the 'View Event' button to read more and see a bigger selection of photos of each event.
Joanna is now continuing to produce from her home studio and is marketing online working towards a big show every 1-2 years. She also continues to raise money for a selection of her favourite conservation groups.
Joanna In The Spotlight
Joanna Artisan Tiles
2006
Joanna held a solo exhibition at the Brian Sinfield Gallery in Burford Oxfordshire. The exhibition opened a week after Joanna was on the TV programme Spring Watch talking about why her hare paintings were so popular. The Gemini Hare painting was launched as a start of new series of paintings on the Zodiac and sold before it was aired on TV but was unveiled at this exhibition. After her first African themed paintings were launched at a solo show in London the year before, Brian Sinfield wanted Joanna to paint more of this new style of work but taking the animal pattern to the edge of the canvas like her first Zebra’s. It lead to the launch of her iconic Black Leopard etc. The Black Leopard sold to an art bank called Tempest Radford who sold it on to Standard Charter Bank and the show was a great success launching and selling many more new animals painted in this unique style. The Black Leopard was spotted by Raymond Blanc from a brochure produced for this exhibition and it lead to her selling one of the early prints to Raymond and also being commissioned to paint six more originals for his famous hotel Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons deco style’.
2007
While running her gallery and other commissions, Joanna had several meetings with Raymond Blanc to discuss the work for both the Sandalwood and Lemongrass suites at Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons. Lemongrass was a blank canvas as the room had just been completed. Raymond had fallen in love with the Black Leopard when he saw the painting featured in a brochure. Although the original had sold to Standard Charter Bank he ordered a print and then commissioned Jo to do another painting and purchased additional work from the existing collection – in total, seven originals for the two rooms. Jo comments, ‘we had so much fun designing the triptych – the Lemongrass suite had been inspired from Raymond’s trip to Malaysia and he wanted me to depict the rice fields he had seen on his travels. Raymond loves the art deco period so the painting was designed in a modern art deco style’.
2008
Joanna May held her first solo exhibition at Raymond Blanc, the famous chef’s hotel, Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons. It was attended by the DJ Mike Read and the actress Pam St Clements or more commonly known as Pat Butcher from Eastenders. After producing seven original paintings and one print of the Black Leopard for two of Raymond’s bedroom suites in the hotel, Joanna produced further leopards, tigers and lions in the same format as the Black Leopard but in gold and silver leaf for the exhibition.
2009
In 2009 Joanna May held an exhibition in Lord Bath’s Orangery at Longleat, following on from the exhibition held at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir Exhibition. For both solo shows Joanna used the animals of Longleat for her reference to create the new paintings. Lord Bath came to view the exhibition when it opened.
2010
Joanna was invited to paint a 6ft fiberglass Elephant for charity ‘Elephant Family’ raising money to save the endangered Asian Elephant. 250 Elephants were positioned around London.
2010
The Year of the Tiger Exhibition attended by the TV presenter Chris Packham and his girlfriend Charlotte Corney, the CEO of the Isle of Wight Zoo. The exhibition was held at the Joanna May Gallery in Marlborough in November 2010. The research for the paintings was based on the tigers at Charlotte Corney’s Zoo on the Isle of Wight. Jo was also filmed while sketching for local TV on the Isle of Wight and photographed for the press. The event raised £2,000 for tiger conservation for WWF who opened the event at Jo’s gallery. Chris Packham also spoke about his experience of tiger conservation.
2011
Joanna was married to David Ladd on Saturday 23rd July 2011, their wedding was covered by Wiltshire Life Magazine. Here are some of the shots taken by Wiltshire Life on their happy day.
2011
The Chris Packham Exhibition, October 2011. Joanna held an exhibition of her work in her beautiful chapel/school house, opened by the TV wildlife presenter Chris Packham. Chris auctioned off one of Joanna’s paintings to help raise funds for his girlfriend Charlotte Corney’s zoo on the Isle of White. Chris also presented a talk on conservation.
2012
Joanna May’s solo show titled ‘The Iconic Animals of London Zoo’ held at The Savoy in London and celebrated David Attenborough’s sixty years in wildlife television. The show was opened by wildlife television presenter Michaela Strachan and attended by the actress Rula Lenska
2013
This event, in October 2013, was the launch of my series of Moon Bear paintings and auctioning prints and paintings to support the Animals Asia charity raising awareness and funds to help end bear farming for bile in China and Vietnam. The day was attended by Animals Asia founder and CEO Jill Robinson MBE with actress Rula Lenska and “Flog It” presenter Paul Martin generously donating their time to help me with this worthy cause.
2014
Joanna May Art and Interior Exhibition held on Saturday 29th March 2014 in her home near to Devizes Wiltshire. Joanna was delighted to have guest speaker Paul Martin, presenter from BBC’s ‘Flog It’ at the exhibition.
2014
Earlier this year I was delighted to host a show with Paul Martin, the presenter from BBC’s ‘Flog It’, talking about ‘incorporating modern interiors with contemporary art’. This was a connection with my work and the wire sculptures of Rachel Ducker and how they complete and complement modern interiors in, for example Steven Graver’s award winning kitchens. Unveiled at the show were two different pieces, but a new style of my work. An image is created using a word repeated over and over again building up and representing the figure in a monochrome type object. ‘Hare-kin’ the hare sold immediately. The other piece, ‘Roar’ is made up of the word Roar used over and over again to form shading. Also released at the show was a young prancing Zebra against a striking red background across two canvasses which sold; and responding to client feedback, I produced three smaller original leopards in pink, white and cerise red. The show was attended by 100 people visiting our home in Wiltshire on a sunny spring day.
2014
I am excited to announce my next show on Saturday 2nd December 10am to 5pm at my lovely converted Methodist Chapel in Keevil, Wilts. This is to present the progress on my forthcoming book “The Hare in the Moon” which I am looking forward to showing the beautiful, intricate new Gold Borders and Drawings but also to view other work with the potential to purchase Limited Edition Prints and Original Paintings at reduced prices for Xmas whilst enjoying a glass of wine. I’d love to see you on the day and would ask If you could be so kind as to let me know if you will be attending so that I am aware of the approximate numbers but even if you haven’t advised please feel free to turn up on the day. Parking will be in the field behind the house which is accessed through the drive of our Chapel House. I really look forward to hearing from you and seeing you.
2014
I am excited to announce my next show on Saturday 2nd December 10am to 5pm at my lovely converted Methodist Chapel in Keevil, Wilts. This is to present the progress on my forthcoming book “The Hare in the Moon” which I am looking forward to showing the beautiful, intricate new Gold Borders and Drawings but also to view other work with the potential to purchase Limited Edition Prints and Original Paintings at reduced prices for Xmas whilst enjoying a glass of wine. I’d love to see you on the day and would ask If you could be so kind as to let me know if you will be attending so that I am aware of the approximate numbers but even if you haven’t advised please feel free to turn up on the day. Parking will be in the field behind the house which is accessed through the drive of our Chapel House. I really look forward to hearing from you and seeing you.