The Washburn Gallery returns to Expo Chicago after 11 years with a solo presentation of a brand new body of work by the artist JoAnne Carson. 7 paintings, 5 collages and 5 drawings will be on view at the Navy Pier Chicago, Profile Section, Booth 204, from April 13 to April 16, 2023. JoAnne Carson’s first solo exhibition with the Washburn Gallery in 2022, "JoAnne Carson: Recent Paintings," was met with great critical acclaim in New York.
Carson was born in New York City in 1953 and her mother, Edith Sachar Carson, was the first wife of the artist Mark Rothko. Several of his paintings from the period of their marriage, the early 1940s, hung on the walls of their den. JoAnne was intensely affected by these somber, surrealistic paintings and seeing them daily greatly contributed to her desire to become an artist. JoAnne Carson received her MFA degree from the University of Chicago and attended the University of Illinois for undergrad. From 1976 to 1988 Carson had many solo and group exhibitions in the Chicago area; N.A.M.E. Gallery, Nancy Lurie Gallery, Ruth Siegel Gallery, and Dart Gallery.
Her work can be found in various public collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Joslyn Art Museum, David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, Frederick Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis and Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln, NE.
JoAnne Carson has received many awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, an Award in the Visual Arts, a Purchase Prize from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Louise Bourgeois Residency from Yaddo, and an individual artist grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Carson's sculptures, paintings and drawings have been shown in numerous solo and two-person exhibitions including The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Zillman Art Museum in Bangor, Maine and galleries in New York City including Black and White, Claire Oliver, Washburn Gallery, Ruth Siegel and Plus Ultra. Notable group exhibitions in public institutions include the Whitney Biennial Exhibition, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Ceremonial Exhibition, The New Orleans Museum Frederick Weisman Collection, the Albright Knox Gallery in Buffalo, Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, The Sheldon Art Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska and the Fleming Museum in Burlington, Vermont.