Joyanna Rose Gittings
My why…
There are two kinds of thoughts that fill my head most of the time: ideas about things I can create or improve, and ideas about how to share with others the satisfaction I get from creating. One thing that drives my ideas is that I am very often either utterly delighted, strongly emotional, or laughing about it all, and I want to document that in some way. Another is that I really like solving problems. The ideas come furiously and constantly and there is no possible way I will ever be able to execute all of them, but I do execute some of them. They are paintings and kids’ projects and ceramic things and trash sculptures and poems and new events and classes. They are usually painted or involve painting. I really just hope that some of the humor or delight or emotion I feel can be shared with someone else, so that maybe we both feel less alone and more understood and maybe a little better.
Artist Statement- The Very Official One
It is interesting to me how telling the truth may not always convey what's real, and likewise realistic images do not tell the whole truth, so I find myself using paint to more accurately say what I remember and long for. I am influenced by Franz Marc’s colors, Georgia O'Keefe’s flow and focus on making small details large, Kahlo and Carrington’s Mexican Surrealism, and Maxfield Parrish’s symbolism and storytelling. I like to incorporate contours of the human figure because what is more familiar to us than our own bodies?
Watercolor is my favorite painting medium for its raw simplicity and unpredictability, like human nature, and I do so adore humans... It requires tending, not control, and reminds me to be tolerant and patient.
I am a bilingual community- based artist: I actively seek out opportunities to infuse more creativity into daily life in my community, bridge linguistic and cultural barriers in traditionally white Arts spaces, and embody creative presence for community events.
Artist’s Bio…
Joyanna Rose Gittings was born in 1975 in Zanesville, Ohio and is the eldest of 5 children in a tight-knit extended family, living for the majority of her childhood in Bloomville, Ohio. She began to study art in secondary school, focusing on clay and scenic painting. A love of Spanish language and culture drove her to pursue study abroad, and she was placed with a family on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands of Spain. Her host family and her home on the island wrapped themselves around her heart, and the experience of living as a foreigner in another country enabled her to feel solidarity with others experiencing the same. She then attended university, graduating with a BFA in Technical Theatre with a focus on Scenic and Costume design from the University of Cincinnati College- Conservatory of Music in 1998.
She took a leave from artistic practice to focus on raising her four children, moving from Ohio to Colorado in 2010, until 2015 when she began to focus again on art. Beginning in watercolor, she expanded into murals, public art, and multimedia installation. Presently, she is a community- based bilingual artist who makes contemplative work about personal narratives, combining watercolor in new ways with various other 2D and 3D media and language.
Her subject matter portrays tenderness, care, and delight that can be overlooked in modern tech-focused times, encouraging us to slow down. She draws upon the works of Georgia O'Keefe, Leonora Carrington, Franz Kafka, Maxfield Parrish, and Tracey Emin as influences.
She founded Obra Arts Studio and Gallery in 2018 in the heart of the downtown Creative District in Longmont, Colorado. Obra Arts is a flexible, bilingual space encompassing studio, gallery, classroom, and gathering place for the incubation of ideas and fellowship. She paints and aims to foster involvement in the Arts across cultural and language barriers encountered by the diverse members of her community.
She is a former Board President for East Boulder County Artists, a juried professional artist’s organization.
Currently she serves her community as committee member for the Longmont Creative District and Dia de los Muertos Festival, bilingual art and Artesanía instructor for the Firehouse Art Center (2025 Colorado Creative Industries Folk and Traditional Arts Grant Recipient), and Wonder Bringer At Large. She lives in Berthoud, Colorado with her family and Labrador Retriever.
Her work is held in private collections nationally, and she has completed numerous public and private commissioned mural projects.
Recent Projects:
Día de los Muertos Community Altar for David Bailey and All Our Relatives- with Bradley Books and Betsy Anderson- FAC- October 2025
Artesanía Residency with Saint Vrain Valley School District- Skyline High School Art Capstone Project, Fall 2025
Longmont Summer Concert Series, Exhibiting Artist, 2025
East Boulder County Artists Studio Tour, 2018 - 2025, President 22- 25
Inception, Firehouse Art Center (FAC) Educator Showcase, January 2025
Alebrijes Mágicos, FAC, Paper Sculptures, October 2024
Parallel Play, Poet/ Artist Collaboration Exhibit, FAC, April 2024
The Journey, Installation, FAC, October 2023
Summer On the Streets, Arts Festival, Founding Organizer and Exhibitor, 2020 through 2023
Displaced, Solo Exhibit, FAC, April 2023
Word Play, Poet/ Artist Collab. Exhibit, FAC, April 2023
El Bosque, Quarantine Installation, FAC, August 2020
Various Privately and Publicly commissioned mural projects, Northern Colorado, 2018 - 2025