40 Facts About Joan Brown

Joan Brown was a member of the "second generation" of the Bay Area Figurative Movement.

Joan Brown was born on February 19,1938, in San Francisco to a second-generation Irish father and a native Californian mother.

Joan Brown's father drank heavily and her mother, who had intended to have a career instead of a family, frequently threatened suicide.

Joan Brown studied at the California School of Fine Arts, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1959 and a Master of Arts in 1960.

Bill Joan Brown presented her with books that contained reproductions of paintings by Rembrandt, Francisco Goya, Diego Velazquez, and other masters.

Joan Brown later stated, "I'd never seen any of this stuff, and I felt this tremendous surge of energy".

Joan Brown was inspired to want to follow their example, and she realized that painting professionally was what she was meant to do.

Joan Brown was married to Bay Area Figurative sculptor Manuel Neri from 1962 to 1966, though their relationship and artistic collaboration dated back several years prior to this.

Joan Brown achieved prominence with a style of figurative painting that combined bright color, sometimes cartoonish drawing, and personal symbolism.

Joan Brown was the youngest artist to be exhibited that year.

In 1956, Joan Brown took a summer class at CSFA with Elmer Bischoff.

Joan Brown told her to follow her heart and to not focus on small details and academic rules.

Joan Brown noted that his instructional methods allowed her to make mistakes and learn from them.

Bischoff led Joan Brown to think more about the actual art and the struggles that come along with producing her paintings.

Joan Brown was very involved in her son's life as well as her romantic relationships and marriages.

Joan Brown became increasingly popular and admirable in her artwork.

In 1960, at the age of 22, Joan Brown had her first New York City exhibition of her abstract expressionist paintings.

Joan Brown's interests began to alter as she progressed through her work and through her life.

In 1960 and 1961, as Joan Brown began to mature as an artist, she switched from painting abstract works to focusing more on figurative imagery.

Joan Brown would allow paint to drip randomly on various areas of the canvas.

Joan Brown's painting The Sky Blew Up in Salinas had many abstract shapes inspired by Peter Voulkos's ceramic works and Frank Lobdell's handling of paint.

In 1962, Joan Brown had a son, Noel Elmer Neri, with her second husband, Manuel Neri.

Joan Brown painted major events and challenges that happened in her son's life throughout this time.

Joan Brown produced few paintings in 1964 because she was occupied with teaching as well as dealing with the disintegration of her marriage to Neri, whom she divorced in 1966.

In 1965, Joan Brown decided to completely change her painting style.

Joan Brown went back to using color again in her paintings.

Joan Brown kept her technique as figurative and representational, but she focused more metaphorically now.

Joan Brown started to include more animals and more symbolism than she had done previously.

Joan Brown was a swimmer in amateur competitions and swam in the first women's Golden Gate swim in San Francisco Bay.

Joan Brown created these series of self-portraits to portray her thoughts and emotions.

In 1977, Joan Brown received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Fine Arts.

From 1961 until 1969, Joan Brown taught introductory painting and drawing classes at the California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco.

Joan Brown taught at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco, the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Sacramento State College, and Mills College, Oakland.

Joan Brown made a number of trips to his ashram in Puttaparthi, India.

Joan Brown withdrew from painting later on and concentrated on public sculpture.

Joan Brown then travelled all over the world, producing paintings from the different cultures and experiences she was having.

In 1990, Joan Brown travelled to India to help with the installation of one of her obelisks.

Joan Brown died along with Bonnie Lynn Mainric, 43, of San Francisco, and Michael Oliver, 25, a Santa Cruz comedian on 26 October 1990 when a concrete turret from the floor above collapsed while they were installing the mosaic obelisk at Sai Baba's Eternal Heritage Museum in Puttaparthi, India.

At the time of her death, Joan Brown was married to Mike Hebel, a police officer.

Joan Brown's work was included in the 2022 exhibition Women Painting Women at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.