JOAN MARGOLIES-KIERNAN
I am a full-time artist with a BFA in painting from the California College of Arts and Crafts and an MFA in spatial arts from San Jose State University. I also earned an MS in psychology and completed the required coursework for a Ph.D. in psychology. I worked as a psychotherapist for 45 years doing both individual and family therapy. I have a major interest in people and their interpersonal experiences. I am a stepparent, and I have four step-grandchildren and one grandchild. After giving birth to my son and recovering from a complex and confusing autoimmune disorder, I began to transition into a career as an artist.
I retired from psychotherapy 15 years ago, and I have continued to work as an artist since that time. My work is both abstract and figurative as I reach toward the unknowable void spontaneously drawing lines that I combine with the disparate images that emerge into a uniform whole. This unconscious process of mark making encourages a meditative state that enables me to enter the unseen world surrounding everyday existence. The layers of paper and acetate overlays add a dimensionality that allows for the experience of oneness with the universe. Since 2021, I have been collaborating with my husband, Ralph, on a new body of work that combines his writing with my visual images.

















