Pug Art and Contemporary Art By Joanne Knauf

How I Work

ABOUT JOANNE

On her travels she has enjoyed seeing the art works of the great masters of Europe, America and the Far East. Her most favourite artist is George Rodrigue of the Blue Dog fame. Other favourite artists include Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, Henri Matisse, Gauguin, Georgia O'Keeffe, Gustav Klimt and Pablo Picasso. A common thread in all their art is the use of colour with fearless abandon. Bold use of colour also hallmarks of Joanne's work.

She works mainly in acrylic medium, experimenting with different styles and techniques, for instance combining application with brush work as well as a palette knife. She also sometimes builds a canvas up with texture to give it rough texture and, sometimes, an antique "olde worlde" look. She has also done work in mixed media like ink, combined with collage images applied in various layers with thinners and then "washed" the entire work with water for interesting results! On one "plein air" field trip, only a black liner, food colouring, bleach were permitted. Students were not permitted to use an eraser or any other artist materials. The results were splendid.

Over the years, she spent many hours in the African bush and other remote places such as the rainforests of Madagascar, photographing and sketching wildlife, the people, plants and other interesting topics unique to the country she was visiting. Madagascar was a feast for an artist and lover of animals and she still has many projects awaiting completion.

She completed a series of canine photographs and paintings which were well received in the USA. To date, one of her photographs has been published by The International Library of Photography, in a book titled, Chronicle of the Seasons, which is aimed at the advertising agency and creative media market. Other photographs have been selected for use on calendars and greeting cards. She been invited to exhibit work at some small exhibitions.

She has exhibited at the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and other dog show events.

Joanne donated several paintings to animal rescue organisations in the United States and these have been used to make items such as t-shirts, mouse pads, coffee mugs, wrapping paper and greeting cards.

IN HER OWN WORDS

Like several artists before me, and several artists of today, I love pugs! History has proved that pugs lend themselves to art, be it serious fine art or humouristic naive-type art. Knowing their different personalities on a day-to-day basis, the artist is compelled to put their daily antics down on canvas!!

I love painting wild animals, dogs, cats and botanicals. I also enjoy doing still life work. Although I enjoy mixed media, most of my work is in acrylic. I enjoy trying different styles: pop art, fauvism, expressionism but have yet to try abstraction. Presently, I live in Pretoria where I have a home studio.

I took art at school, but opted to pursue a career (as a p.a.) in commerce. In between jobs in the newspaper, legal and computer fields, I did some travelling which include some African countries, the Greek Islands, Australia and I have visited many of the Indian Ocean Islands.

I went to live in Germany for 3 years and during that time I started taking various adult art education courses. My husband taught me alot about photography which we pursued as a hobby. After a few visits to galleries and museums in Italy and France, I decided to start painting again and on our return to South Africa I completed a few sets of Ostrich eggs painted in African Ndebele design style. Later, I joined the Gables Studio where I have attended regular classes for 5 years. I exhibited at the last exhibition held at Gables Studio in December 2005.

Another Day In Pug Paradise Web Design
by Mary Crissman
PugSpeak, LLC

For more information regarding Joanne's work, please email Mary Crissman at pugspeak@sbcglobal.net