Joy Severin

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Color is the key to Joy’s expressionistic acrylics, oils, and watercolors.  She works boldly with vibrant colors to create an emotional impact.

As a former professional modern dancer and competition ballroom dancer, Joy is captivated with the movements and attitudes of the human form in repose or in motion.  “I use color as a means of expressing my emotional response to my subject, not as a mere representation of nature.  Color suggests energy and movement to me.  I approach still life, landscape and abstract works with the same attitude as I see the human form in my figurative work.”

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Untitled #2

Severin is a graduate of California Collage of Arts and Crafts.  Her paintings appear in collections throughout California, as well as in Cleveland, St. Louis, Atlanta, Boston, and the University of Iowa, Iowa City.  She is affiliated with many fine art associations and galleries throughout California and has won numerous award.  She was a founding director of the Danville Fine Arts Festival and has served on the Boards of Directors for the Task Force on the Arts, and the Contra Costa Ballet.

She and her husband split their time between the Bay Area and the ranch in Sonora where they grow olive trees and lavender.