Jo-Ann Brody
A river runs thru, 2026, Paper Mache, 19 x 14 x 2.5
A river runs thru, 2026, Paper Mache, 19 x 14 x 2.5
Desert Torso, 22026, Paper mache, 20 x 14 x 2.5
Desert Torso, 22026, Paper mache, 20 x 14 x 2.5
Three Small Figures, 2025, Paper Mmache, from 11-7 inches tall
Three Small Figures, 2025, Paper Mmache, from 11-7 inches tall
Crouching Arms Out, 2025, Paper mache, 42 x 32 x 23 inches
Crouching Arms Out, 2025, Paper mache, 42 x 32 x 23 inches
Standing Fig with White, 2025, Paper mache, 18.5 x 4.5 x 3 inches
Standing Fig with White, 2025, Paper mache, 18.5 x 4.5 x 3 inches
Kneeling Figure, 2025, Paper mache, 40 x 11 x 23 inches
Kneeling Figure, 2025, Paper mache, 40 x 11 x 23 inches
Torso Arms back, 2024, Paper mache, 12.5 x 5 x 1 inches
Torso Arms back, 2024, Paper mache, 12.5 x 5 x 1 inches
Eyes, 2026, Paper mache with leather binding, 10.25 x 10.5 x 12.5 (6 panels)
Eyes, 2026, Paper mache with leather binding, 10.25 x 10.5 x 12.5 (6 panels)
2 Standing Figures, 2026, Paper Mache, 60 and 61 inches tall
2 Standing Figures, 2026, Paper Mache, 60 and 61 inches tall
STATEMENT
Brody’s figures continue to focus on gesture and stance through a lifetime lens of figurative work. The brain recognizes a figure with very few cues. We know it is a person, a woman. We are hard wired for that so despite distortion, exaggeration, mis-proportion, and incorrect anatomy we recognize what is before us. Heads are mere punctuation points. Brody creates a line in space through linear elements.
Representational color is not important. For years her palette was earth tones. Suddenly with papier mache, color springs to the eye. Brody is inspired by nature but that manifests in (sometimes vibrant) color and texture. Her larger figures remain white.
Papier mache is made from a mixture of papers, paper pulp and glue. There is no separate armature this work. The structure comes from rolled paper tubes glued together. Mulberry, Unruyu and rice papers add to the texture, color and the look of the pieces. Each piece is at least 3 layers or paper and is then finished with varnish. Paper mache pre-pulped and mixed with water and glue adds volume to these sculptures. Forms are also created on carved foam templates giving shape and volumes–especially for the pages of the books.
This year, Brody returned to unique books. Each consists of 6 torsos, words and a full figure as spine bound with leather cord. The words are written about her life and routine and inscribed on the panels.
Jo-Ann Brody, 2026
Joannbrody.net
@Brodyjoann
Education:
| 1976-80 | Lexington Arts and Crafts Society, Clay classes and Workshops, Lexington, MA |
| 1968 | Reed College , Portland, OR B. A. Fine Arts (combined program with below) |
| 1967 | Portland Museum Art School , Portland, OR Certificate of Study in Sculpture |
Selected Solo Shows:
| 2026 | Solo / Duo 3: Culture and Stance with Liz Ndoye, Ceres Gallery, NYC. |
| 2024 | Solo / Duo 2: Culture and Stance with Liz Ndoye, Ceres Gallery, NYC |
| 2019 | Solo / Duo: Culture and Stance with Liz Ndoye, Ceres Gallery, NYC. |
| 2019 | (Off) Balance, Ceres Gallery, NYC. |
| 2016 | Women Forms, Gallery 66 Sculpture garden, Cold Spring NY. |
| 2015 | Family Stories, Ceres Gallery, NYC Musings: Work in Clay, Field Library Gallery, Peekskill NY |
| 2014 | Scar Tissue, Ceres Gallery, NYC. |
| 2013 | Conversations, Studio A Gallery, Tarrytown NY |
| 2012 | Three Steps Forward, Ceres Gallery, NYC. |
| 2010 | Guardians/Watches/Warders, Maxwell Fine Arts Sculpture Garden, Peekskill, NY. |
| 2009 | Fugue Forms, Ceres Gallery, New York NY. |
| 2007 | Sticks and Stones, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY. Clusters, an installation, The Arts Exchange, White Plains, NY. |
| 2005 | Boxes & Foxes: Surface & Stance, Maxwell Fine Arts, Peekskill, NY. |
| 2000 | Gallery Zogei, (with Lisa Breznak) Kyoto, Japan. Dialogs in the Garden; Figures in Cement, Chappaqua Library Gallery, Curator Larry D’Amico, Chappaqua, NY. |
Selected Group & Juried Shows:
| 2026 | ArtistBooks in a Suitcase, Curated by Bibiana Huang Mattheis, Vassar College Art Library, Vassar College, Van Ingen Hall, Poughkeepsie, New York Cotuit Center for the Arts, Cape Cod, Massachusetts John Young Museum of Art, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu,Hawaiʻi |
| 2025 | Address Earth Expo and ArtistBooks in a Suitcase, Curated by Bibiana Huang Mattheis, El Barrio’s Artspace, NY NY |
| 2024 | WAR, National Juried Exhibition, Hudson Valley MOCA, Peeksill NY |
| 2022 | NBOSS at the Bennington Museum, curated by Jamie Franklin, Bennington VT The Farm Show, 2020, Collaborative Concepts at Tilly Foster Farm, Brewster NY Address Earth Expo, Curated by Bibiana Huang Mattheis, Western Connecticut State University and WCSU Department of Art, Danbury CT |
| 2021 | Pachamama/Mother Earth, Ceres Artsy Online Exclusive Exhibition Highland Falls ArtWalk, Highland Falls, NY NBOSS North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Show, curated by Joe Chirchirillo, N. Bennington VT The Arc of the Viral Universe and the Arc or the Moral Universe, coordinated by Carla Rae Johnson |
| 2020 | The Farm Show, 2020, Collaborative Concepts at Tilly Foster Farm, Brewster NY |
| 2018 | Balance, Curated by Bibiana Huang Mattheis, Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden, North Salem, NY High Contrast: Culture Confronts Chaos, Invitational, In Question curating, Westchester Community College, Peekskill NY The Doll Show, Juried exhibition, curator Liz Ndoye, Ceres Gallery, NYC Local Artist Exhibit, Bethany Art Center, Ossining NY |
| 2017 | Strong as a Woman curated by Carla Rae Johnson and Marcy B. Freedman, Peekskill NY 100!, Curated by Bibiana Huang Matheis, Howland Cultural Center, Beacon, NY |
| 2016 | WORD, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill NY |
| 2015 | The Farm Project 10th anniversary Show, Collaborative Concepts, Saunders farm, Garrison NY |
| 2014 | Brains, Boobs and Backbones, curated by Carla Rae Johnson, Paramount Center, Peekskill NY 10566 Women: the Rock the Root the Foundation, Bean Runner Café curated by Lisa Breznak, Peekskill NY 10566. My Girl, Its All about Things, Portchester NY Jose Marc Gallery at Affordable Art Fair, NY Hullaballoo Collective at the Fountain Fair, NY Peekskill Open Studios, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill NY |
| 2013 | Placemaking: Re-Envisioning White Plains, the ArtsExchange, ArtsWestcheter, Curated by Nazanin H. Munroe, White Plains, NY The Farm Project 2013, Saunders farm, Garrison NY, also 2006-2012 |
| 2012 | Sculpture: On and Off the Wall, the Arts Exchange, ArtsWestcheter, White Plains, NY. |
| 2011 | Earth, the ArtsExchange, ArtsWestcheter, curated by Leigh Taylor Mikelson, White Plains, NY. |
| 2009 | Ineffable Woman: A Bi-Coastal Conversation, Ceres Gallery NYC & California Institute of Integral Studios, San Francisco CA. |
| 2008 | Peekskill Project IV, site-specific sculptural installation, Peekskill, NY. The Veil: Visible and Invisible Spaces, curated by Jennifer Heath, a traveling exhibition 10 x 10 x 10, curated by Judy Sigunick, Ellensville NY |
| 2005 | Winter Solstice, The Studio, White Plains and Armonk, NY Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art: A benefit auction of significant works, Robert Miller Gallery, NY. Hold the Line, Peekskill Project, site specific sculptural installation, Peekskill, NY |
| 2004 | Art at War, The Artist’s Voice. Aldo Castillo Gallery, Chicago IL. Third Biennial Women Book Artists Exhibition, Theresa Prator Curator, Converse College, Spartanburg, SC. |
| 2003 | Art in Nishijin, Kyoto, Japan. Women of the Book: Jewish Artists, Jewish Themes, Starr Gallery, Newton, MA. , Curator Judith Hoffberg, |
Panels:
| 2017 | How to Promote Your Art: WORD Artist Panel II, HV Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill NY |
| 2016 | Artist Residencies in the Schools, First Monday Salon Series, Bean Runner Café, Peekskill NY |
| 2007 | The Feminist Cooperatives in NY, Brooklyn Museum, Sackler Wing, Brooklyn, NY. |
| 2001 | The Japan Experience, Katonah Museum Art Assn, Katonah Museum, NY. |
| 2000 | Slide Presentation to MFA students in ceramics, Seika University, Kyoto, Japan |
Selected Articles:
| Sculptures Big and Small, and All in the Open, ‘The Farm Project 2013,’ at Saunders Farm in Garrison, Susan Hodera, New York Times on line 9/13/13. | |
| “A Global Response to War Rendered in Words and Images,” Victor Alejandro Sorell, NY Arts Magazine. Nov/Dec. 2004, Vol. 9, No.11/12 | |
| “Upfront,” Ceramic Monthly, May 2003. | |
| “Art Reviews/D. Dominick Lombardi: Abstract paintings that create a roller coaster ride,” New York Times Westchester Section, Dec, 15, 2002. | |
| “Office Artwork Brings Out the Critic in Employees,” Tanya Mohn, NY Times, Jan. 31,2001. | |
| Article in Kyoto Shinbun, Oct 18, 2000. | |
| 3 articles in Japanese: Morning Asahi, Mainichi, & Daily Yomieri, Oct. 15, 2000 |
Boards:
| Digital Communication, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY | |
| Secretary, Peekskill Arts Alliance, Peekskill, NY | |
| President, Collaborative Concepts, Putnam Valley New York |