Joanne Mark grew up in Westtown, PA and currently lives near Valley Forge National Park in Chester County, PA. She earned her B.S. in Biology from Millersville University. It was a natural transition from studying the science of life to painting it. Joanne has studied at Chester Springs Studio, Chester County Art Association, Wayne Art Center and Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. She presently exhibits her paintings at local galleries. She has also shown her paintings at Chester County Art Association where she received three awards: one in the Juried Member Show, one in the Brights Show and the other in the Con”text”ual Show. She was also recognized again through receipt of another prize at the Lancaster County Art Association’s Spring Member Show. Joanne juried into the following fundraising exhibitions: 2015 – 20120 Yellow Springs Art Show (Chester Springs, PA); 2015, 2017 - 2019 Sunset Hill Fine Arts Show (West Chester, PA), 2016 & 2017 Academy of Notre Dame de Namur Show (Villanova, PA), 2017 Unionville Art Show and Radley Run Art Show (West Chester, PA). In August 2016, she exhibited 45 paintings in a solo show at Mala Galleria, Kennett Square, PA. She also donated a painting to the 2016 Healing Artworks for the DuPont Nemours Children’s Hospital in Delaware. Joanne also juried into the 2016 & 2017 Plein Air Brandywine Valley event (Wilmington, DE area) and the “Paint the Town” plein air event held in Phoenixville, PA. She has participated in the 2017 & 2018 Chester County Studio Tours. Joanne had a solo show featuring her figure paintings in July, 2018 at the Lancaster County Art Association. She has participated in the 2018 & 2019 Barnstone Live spectacular supporting the power of art for children in the Phoenixville, PA area. Finally, her most recent solo exhibition was in the spring of 2020 at Gallery 222 in Malvern showing her Asian collection.
Joanne Mark is an eclectic oil painter who draws inspiration from beautiful Chester County scenery using vivid colors for her palette knifed plein air paintings. She is also influenced by her recent travels to Thailand where she visited an elephant sanctuary.
Her passion for the plight of endangered species from around the world has inspired her most recent paintings of elephants, polar bears, giant pandas, and koala bears.