Bio

Joanna Bloom works primarily with clay. Drawn to raw and intuitive work, she attempts to keep her practice in a similar vein, through the use of the simplest of tools and techniques. Bloom's works, at times functional, but always sculptural, are subtractive in nature. In this way, she cuts and carves away at a repertoire of objects, imbuing them with symbols that hold deeply personal meaning. She is dedicated to the idea of work as experimentation.

The resulting objects reference numerous sources: the rich history of self-taught art, material culture, personal narratives, and the landscape of the Pacific Northwest, where the artist has lived now for nearly thirty years.

Bloom's studio is currently in Portland, Oregon. She holds a MA in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a BA from Connecticut College, New London, CT. In 2015-2022, Bloom co-directed a clay-based mentorship in Portland, Or with her husband Thomas Orr. With no formal degree in art, this experimental project, and the rich culture of cross pollination it provided, was extremely formative for Bloom.

Bloom's work has been exhibited at Friend's Artspace, in Arlington, Virginia, Adams and Ollman Gallery, Portland, OR; The San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA; Kellogg University Art Gallery, Cal Poly, Pomona, CA; Hoffman Gallery, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, OR; and the New Orleans Center for Contemporary Art, New Orleans, LA, among others. Bloom’s work is included in the collections of the Portland Art Museum, The Lumber Room, The Center for Contemporary Art and Culture, Pacific Northwest College of Art, all in Portland, OR, the Beth Rudin DeWoody collection in Miami, Florida, as well as a number of other private collections.