Joann Wadge

 

     Joann Wadge is a native of Canada who moved to the Seattle area in 1998. She works as a psychotherapist and began experimenting in clay in 2010 while taking classes and workshops at the Kirkland Arts Center.
    Joann’s ceramic sculptures are organic in form and inspired by the multitude of images in the natural world. Her process is strictly intuitive; clay anchors her to the earth, informs her sense of place in the world and fires her imagination. When Joann creates, she chooses to re-imagine, not replicate these natural objects and uses them as springboards to create her organic work. The clay pieces are a puzzle made up of converging parts; curved, straight and intuitively assembled.
    Joann’s sculptural artwork primarily consists of hand building techniques. She takes a piece of raw clay and gives it a textured existence. Joann uses different glazes, stains, and firing techniques to achieve the colors of her inspirations. She is also using an encaustic wax technique on her ceramic sculptures.  Metal, wood, and other materials may be added to elaborate or exaggerate the sculptural narrative. Each piece is unique and one of a kind.

     Joann’s artwork is in private residences in Canada and the U.S.  She juried into the 2023 Collective Visions Gallery Show, the EAFA/MIVAL Exhibition and the North Wind Art Gallery Show 2022.  2022/2021 Woodinville Artist Studio Tour, 2022/2021 Molbaks Sip and Stroll Exhibit,  2016/2018 Kirkland Arts Center Artists’ Exhibits, Re-acclimating Exhibit 2018 and is a participant in the Kirkland Artist Studio Tour, 2015-18. Joann has also exhibited in the Evergreen Association of Fine Arts Gallery, Eastshore Gallery, Blue Snow Montana, Vetiver Salon, Book Tree and won an awards at the Kenmore Arts Show 2017 and the 2023 EAFA/MIVAL Exhibition.