STATEMENT

My women are minimal and austere, yet sensual. They reflect my fascination with gesture and stance. They are rhythmic and linear. The women are strong and rooted, with large feet so they can stand without bases. The heads are small and impersonal allowing the viewer to focus on the gesture not the person. They suggest the figure rather than follow correct anatomy. And they are made in series so one figure's gesture reinforces the next one's; negative space and rhythmic line imply dance and dialog.

Some women protect, some gesture in their dialog, others reach out into space, and all stand tall and strong. They represent the tree of life. Together they form a forest of women. They are iconic and symbolic.

The environment created with the figures and the stones–both real and of clay–suggests the natural world, riverbed, forest, fertility figure, generations and women warriors and refugees. It is a forest of women gesturing, swaying, standing tall. Stones link the figures and make a whole of the not-so-disparate parts. Stones define the watercourse, water--source of life. Stones are over 100 torsos mixed in among Mexican black river stones like those I found at temples in Japan. The installation reflects the colors and severe landscape of my childhood in the desert of Arizona.

Each figure is unique created with hand colored, hand mixed cement formed/applied directly onto the metal armature in layers. Each stone is also unique--hand made, stoneware clays colored with oxides, then fired.

Jo-Ann Brody

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Education:
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
Solo Exhibitions:
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.
2004	Multiples , Ceres Gallery, New York, NY.
2003	Woman Forms , Ceres Gallery, New York, NY.
2002	Speaking Figuratively , (with Don Keene) Maxwell Fine Arts, Peekskill, NY. Beauties, Beasts & Other Imaginary Beings , (with Allen Hart & Maja Kihlstedt) Westchester Community College Art Gallery, Valhalla NY. Sculpture Installation, Di Santi Plaza, Curator Leslie Scheiblberg, Hartsdale, NY.
2000	Gallery Zogei, (with Lisa Bresnak) Kyoto, Japan.
1999	Fugues in Cement, Open Studios, Westchester Art Council, White Plains, NY. Figures in Cement & Clay, Invitational Series, Belle Levine Arts Center, Mahopac, NY.
Selected Group Shows:
2008	All Fired Up , county wide clay exhibition, at Maxwell Fine Arts, curated by Bill Maxwell & Jo-Ann Brody Visible and Invisible Spaces, curated by Jennifer Heath, a traveling exhibition
2007	Outdoor Sculpture Shows , Collaborative Concepts and the Studio, Garrison NY & Armonk NY. 10 x 10 x 10 , 10 artists, 10 storefronts, 10 communities , curated by Judy Sigunick, Ellenville, NY.
2006	Collaborative Concepts at Saunder's Farm, 35 artists and a 100 acre farm, Garrison, NY. Conversations , Maxwell Fine Arts Sculpture Garden, Peekskill, NY. Windows to the Soul , Blue Door Gallery, Yonkers Public Library, Yonkers, 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, 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. The 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 – Words on   Fire , Starr Gallery, Newton, MA. Small Works, A.I.R. Gallery, NY, NY
2002	The Object of Art , Northern Westchester Center for the Arts, Mt. Kisco, NY. A Different Purim Sound: Waving Flags and Ringing Bells , Laurie Tisch Sussman Gallery, NY, NY. Catalog.
2001	From the Hands of the Maker: Artists Unique Books , Temple Judea Museum, Curator Rita Rosen Poley, Elkins Park, PA.
	Open Studios, Locations: Real & Imaginary, Curator Rosemary Erpf, Westchester Art Council, White Plains NY.
2000	Art in Nishijin , Kyoto, Japan.
Awards:
	Artist residency/exchange between Network Nishijin (Kyoto), Japan and Peekskill .Paramount Center for the Arts, Visual Arts Honoree, 1997.
Selected Articles:

	“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. “Plaza of Sculptures” Roberta Hershenson, NY Times Westchester Section, July 21,2002. “Office Artwork Brings Out the Critic in Employees,” Tanya Mohn, NY Times, Jan. 31,2001. 3 articles in Japanese: Morning Asahi, Mainichi, & Daily Yomieri, Oct. 15, 2000.
Collections:
	Ginsberg Development, LLC, Hawthorne, NY. Pfizer Learning Center, Rye Brook, NY. Private collections
Boards:
	President, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY. Secretary, Peekskill Arts Council, Peekskill, NY. Advisory Boards: Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY Collaborative Concepts, Garrison NY

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