Joie Villeneuve
“Float”
September 2023
BIO
Joie Villeneuve was born in Minnesota, USA and holds a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. In 2008 Joie immigrated to Australia and works from her studio in Mandurah, Western Australia. Joie is an award-winning visual artist with a robust artistic practice spanning over 3 decades. Her work encompasses painting, sculpture, printmaking, bookmaking and installation art. The mixed media approach to her work and exhibitions creates an experience not to be missed.
Artist Statement
I use mixed media to bring a concept to life. I often feel like the work I’m doing in any given moment is just the tip of the iceberg. There is always so much more I want to explore and express -not only within the surface of the painting but also the layers and levels of consciousness. It is this drive that keeps me up at night and takes me to the studio almost every day. When I’m not in the studio I take the studio with me on my travels and spend large amounts of time outside in nature. When I am hiking or running, snorkelling and swimming, or taking in a big city I am paying deep attention to my experience of these ever-changing places. These experiences have the most profound influence on my work and bring me both closer to myself and the world around me. Later, the essence of these experiences flow through me, and deep feelings, memories and an aspiration to align myself with something higher manifests something symbolic and universal within my work.
Floating above the murky undercurrent,
free of the dark abyss that might try to capture your soul.
Floating on top of the water,
soaking in the sun’s rays and moon’s light.
Making peace with the stars.
Peacefully floating on the surface of the here and now.
Duality.
Life’s unforgiving currents.
Not taking anything for granted.
One day may be peaceful bobbing,
the next a torrent sea determined to sink you but still, you float.
You were made to float no matter how many pieces you’ve been broken into.
Buoys are used to keep something or someone afloat.
In this exhibition, “Float”, the buoys symbolise the buoyancy needed to get through life’s challenges, the dual nature of our experiences and the message in the bottle is the way out. The wisdom in the message is to guide us to view these circumstances from a higher place, a place where every experience good or bad is perfect in relation to our higher self’s journey and all of these experiences can be used to purify our vessel and allow us to stay buoyant, to stay above the swirling, raging seas that want to engulf us and pull us under.
When the concept for this exhibition, “Float”, began to unfold I knew it needed to have a mixed media approach to transport the viewer into a new world. Therefore in this work I have used many techniques and mediums to build up the surfaces and create a body of work that is rich and diverse in texture while endeavouring to instil a sense of wonder. It is the concept of the body of work that beckons the materials. Some of these include: painting, drawing and printmaking techniques using acrylic, water-based mediums, UV varnish, collage of antique and vintage songbooks, legal textbooks, sailor’s notebooks, tidal movement charts, graphite, crayons, paint markers, charcoal. Sculptural assemblage techniques using marine-grade wood, old canvas, industrial wires, marine hardware, foam buoys and custom made-sculpted-wooden buoys, scientific vials, vintage bottles & jars, many found objects- including wooden posts, rusty metal bits and rope discovered on bush and beach walks.