Joan Alison Becker
bio.
The Rose, 2024, 16" x 12", watercolor
Joan Becker is an artist based in Philadelphia. Her meticulous watercolors represent the theatricality of nature through lush botanical scenes. Her portraits capture the unique identities of human subjects flanked by significant objects and a backdrop of architecture.
Her childhood home in upstate New York sparked an interest in the beauty and complexity of nature. Her father, also a painter, introduced her to drawing from observation. After modeling for life classes and drafts designs for the state of New York, Becker attended Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia.
An interest in environmental concerns grew at the Fairmount Park Commission where she managed the environmental centers and special facilities like the Fairmount Water Works and Japanese House and Garden.
In 2003, she completed the Certificate program at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
She taught Advanced Painting at Main Line Art Center for over a decade and has had six solo exhibitions at Gross McCleaf Gallery where she is represented.
She's received numerous awards, grants and residencies. Her impressive large-scale works are published in articles and books including Color for Painters: A Guide to Traditions and Practice by Al Gury and New American Paintings, No. 63.
