Now in the Small Space:

Joy Broom:
​​Bio Historica

Nov 14, 2024 – Jan 4, 2025

Artist's Reception
Saturday, November 23, 1-4pm

​Joy Broom, Baby Uncle Charlie, 2024, mixed medium, 9.5 x 9 in

Joy Broom's multi-layered assemblages combine concepts of biology, memory and history in pieces that resonate with the experience of growing up in a simpler time and place. With family photos cut up, blurred and erased, old letters, papers and postcards mixed in, Broom sets down a base of disappearing recollections. Bright red and branching forms overlay, referencing nature and time and vividly connecting to the biological presence of our own circulatory systems and the living world we inhabit. ​

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Artist's Statement

Through the lens of the natural sciences, Biology has been a constant in the way I see the world.  It’s the primary focus in the studio.  I am also exploring Identity, Memory, and History, combining my bio-drawings with bits of old family memorabilia in multi-layered assemblages.
Dismantling then reassembling old letters, photo albums and scrapbooks, cutting this stuff up, eliminating faces, and obscuring surfaces shifts these elements from the personal to the universal.  These are common histories: my family photos without specific Identities look like nearly everybody else’s in the time and place of a childhood in small town America.
Trees and branching continue to reflect dualities: circulatory systems nod to family trees; age rings on wood recall Memory.  Antique glass biology lab specimen slides further broaden natural and historical references.
​~ Joy Broom

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​More about Joy Broom

Joy Broom’s work has been featured in dozens of exhibitions at a wide range of venues.  SOLO shows include the deYoung Museum’s Kimball Gallery as Artist-in-Residence; 555 California; the inaugural StartUp Art Fair and StartUp Small Works in San Francisco; Stanford Art Spaces; The Rollup Project and Studio Quercus in Oakland.  She recently showed a body of work at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts and City Hall; for Startup Curatorial at Yorba Winery, Sutter Creek, and a PopUp at Storer Studio in Pt. Reyes Station. Two-person shows include Berkeley Wealth Management and Gear Box Gallery, Oakland, with Marsha Balian; and The Art Cottage, Concord; Off the Preserve, Napa; and A440 Gallery, San Francisco, with husband sculptor Jerry Leisure.


Select GROUP shows include the 2020 deYoung Open; SFMOMA Artists Gallery, Transmission and Live Worms Gallery, San Francisco; ShoeBox Projects, Los Angeles; Site: Brooklyn, New York.  In the Bay Area, the Triton Museum, Santa Clara; Berkeley Art Center Artist of the Month; six themed exhibitions at the Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek; Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery, Lafayette; Seager Gray Gallery’s Art of the Book, Mill Valley; Sonoma Museum of Visual Arts, Santa Rosa; and Gallery Rt. One, Vita Collage and Toby’s in Pt. Reyes Station.


Broom has been a recipient of the WESTAF/NEA Regional Fellowship for Visual Artists for Works on Paper, and is a featured artist on The Studio Work blog.  Her work has been published in the book Artists of the Bay Area by Jen Tough Gallery, Santa Fe; catalogs Art of the Word and the upcoming Tree Stories by Sasse Museum of Art; Photo Trouvee Magazine; and Humana Obscura Magazine.  A wall of shaped multiples of chewing gum and oil paint was hung in the original contemporary Bay Area collection at the diRosa Preserve complex in Napa.  Her work is represented in numerous other private and artists’ collections.

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​Joy Broom C.V.

Education: Washington State University, BFA, MFA

SOLO & 2 PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024 Transmission Gallery, Oakland, Ca., "Bio Historica"
2023 N. Berkeley Wealth, Berkeley, Ca. “Memory and Other Inventions” (w Marsha Balian)
2022 Solo Exhibizone/Gallerium Art Prize & “Untold Stories,” Biafarin Online 
             Storer Studio, Pt. Reyes Station, “History Lessons” POP-UP
             Startup Curatorial, Yorba Wines Solo, Sutter Creek, Ca.
2020 Chateau Sonoma, on the Square, Sonoma, Ca.
2019 The Rollup Project, Oakland, Ca
2018 Gear Box Gallery, Oakland, Ca. “By Implication” (w Marsha Balian)
             Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery, Lafayette,Ca., Installation: “Vault of Curiosities”
2017 The Art Cottage, Concord, Ca. "Correspondence" with Jerry Leisure
2016   555 California, Bank of America, San Francisco,Ca.
2015   stARTup Art Fair, San Francisco, Ca., Hotel Del Sol, Room 211             
               Stanford Art Spaces, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Ca.           
2012    deYoung Museum, Kimball Gallery, Artist-in-Residence Exhibition             
                 San Pablo Art Gallery, San Pablo, Ca., “Her Stories: Personal Collaborations”
2011     Studio Quercus, Oakland, Ca., “Waxed and Winged: A Cabinet of Curiosities”
2010     Haldan Art Gallery, Lake Tahoe Community College, Ca., “Life.Forms”
2009    A440 Gallery, San Francisco, Ca., “Alchemy”  
               Amo Art, Waitsburg, Wa., “Collaborations With Roberta”  
               Diablo Valley College Gallery, Pleasant Hill,Ca., “Wax Museum”
2008    K Gallery, Alameda, Ca., “Nature, Patterns, & Portraits”      
                Napa Valley College Gallery, Napa, Ca., “Beebonibroom (Disturbences in the field)”     
2004    Off the Preserve! Gallery, DiRosa Preserve, Napa, Ca.  ”Anatomically Incorrect”   
                Carnegie Art Center, Walla Walla, Washington, “Interior Travels”
2002    Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle, Washington                                     
2001     Belcher Street Studios/ San Francisco, Ca
l999      San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery, S.F.
1997     Gallery Rt. One, Award Exhibition,Pt. Reyes Station, California
1995     TRAX Gallery, Berkeley, California
1994     Mia Gallery, Seattle, Washington               
1992     Mia Gallery, Seattle, Washington             
                 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery, S.F
1991      Valley Art Center, Walnut Creek, California
1990     Tortue Gallery, Santa Monica, California
1986     Univ. Gallery, The Evergreen State Univ., Olympia, Wa
1984     Pritchard Gallery, Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho
1982     Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1980     Lester Gallery, Inverness, California             
                  Candy Store Gallery, Folsom, California
1978     Hank Baum Gallery, San Francisco, California
1975     Missoula Museum of the Arts, Missoula, Montana

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Arts Benicia, Benicia, Ca., “Reimagining History” (Sandow Berk, juror)
             Site:Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY, “Paper Works”
             Transmission Gallery, SF, Ca. Small Assemblage “Pint Size”
             ShoeBox Projects, Los Angeles, Ca. “Making the Cut”
             Live Worms Gallery, SF, Ca. “Textural” & “ Women”
             Triton Museum, Santa Clara, Ca. “Salon at the Triton”
             Falkirk Cultural Center, San Rafael, Ca., “Mixing it Up w Mixed Media”, Juror’s Award
             Village Theater Gallery, Danville, Ca. “The Art of a Story”
2020  The deYoung Open Exhibition, San Francisco, Ca.
2018  StartUp Art Fair Small Works, San Francisco, Ca.
2017  Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery, Lafayette, Ca., "Small Things"             
               Icehouse Gallery, Petaluma, Ca., "Gatherings" (Curated by Victoria Swift for Vita Collage)
2016   Toby's Feed Barn, Pt. Reyes Station, Ca., "Paper" (Curated by Inez Storer)
2015   Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, Ca., "Botanica: All Things Plant Life"          
               Arts Center of Greenwood, Greenwood, S.C., "Art & Enmtomology"
2014   Petaluma Art Center, Petaluma, Ca., “(n)collage”, Inez Storer, Curator
2013    Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, Ca., “The Art of the Book”
2012    Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek,Ca., ”Captured: Specimens in Contemporary Art”
2011    California Bank of Commerce, Lafayette, Ca. “Habitat: Explorations of Home and Shelter in Contemporary Art”, Carrie Lederer and Steven Pon, Curators
2010    Ann Street Gallery, Newburgh, NY, “Fahrenheit 180: A Group Encaustic Exhibition”
               Studio Quercus, Oakland, Ca.,”Madame Lucretia’s Parlor for Study of The Occult and The Macabre”
2008   Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek,Ca., “Art of the Diorama”
2006   Oakland Museum of Calif., “Laughing Bones, Weeping Hearts” Dias de los Muertos Exhibition               
                Kellogg University Art Gallery, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
2005    SomArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, Ca. “Rituals in the Journey of Life/Death”               
               Bedford Gallery, Regional Center for Arts, Walnut Creek, Ca. ”LocalColor”,  Juror’s Award2004      
               Pool Art Center, Drury University, Springfield, Mo., “Drawing Invitational”
2004   Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, Ca., “A Book in the Hand”
2003    SFMOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco,C a. “Natural Matters” (5 artists)
200l      Sonoma Museum of Visual Arts, Santa Rosa, Ca. “Journal of Being” (4 artists)               
                Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, Ca.,”Statewide Book Arts Exhibition”               
                Anchorage Museum of Art & History, Anchorage, Alaska, ”Bugs”
2000    Sonoma Museum of Visual Arts, Santa Rosa, “Calif. Small Works” (Juror Award)              
                Sebastopol Center for the Arts, “Books, Maps & Journals”              
                Works Gallery, San Jose, Calif., “Beneath the Skin:Anatomy as Iconography”              
                Works Gallery, San Jose, Calif., “Book Nook, Exploring Artists’ Books"                         
               Hearst Gallery, St. Marys College, Moraga, Ca.,  “Mary”
l997      di Rosa Preserve, On-going Permanent Collection, Napa, Ca.             
                Gallery Rt. One,  Point Reyes Station, Ca., "Best of Show” (CatherineClark,Juror)
l996      Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, Ca., "Bug Collection”              
                Amsterdam Art Gallery, Berkeley, Ca.  *Best of Show, Golden Acrylics                                       
                 Bedford Gallery, Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, Ca. “Family Matters:Tradtl. & Contmp.Depictions of Home Life”
l995      San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Rental Gallery, SF, “Miniatures”                         
l995      Bolinas Museum, Annual Miniature Exhibition, 1992-1996           
1994     Bedford Gallery, Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, Ca. "The Gluers”               
                  Olga Dollar Gallery, San Francisco, Calif.
l993      Sushi, Inc. at San Diego State University, San Diego, Calif.             
                  Gallery Concord, Concord, California              
                 Olga Dollar Gallery, San Francisco, Calif.              
                  Mia Gallery, Seattle, Washington              
                  Gallery Route One, Pt. Reyes Station, Calif., Award Invitational            
1993     Instituto Allende, San Miguel de Allende,  Mexico              
                 Gallery Route One, Pt. Reyes Station, Calif.
1992      Central Exhibition Hall, St. Petersburg, Russia              
                  International Federation of Artists, Invitational              
                  Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, Ca., “Sacred Image, Sacred Space”
1991      Tortue Gallery, Santa Monica, California               
                  Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, California, Miniatures
1990      Hearst Gallery, St. Mary's College, Moraga, CA,” Artists of Contra Costa Co.”               
                  Berkeley Arts Center, Berkeley, CA, Juried Exhibition              
                  University Art Gallery, Calif. State Univ., Hayward, East Bay Community College Art Faculty 
1989      Falkirk Cultural Center, San Rafael, Ca., “Artists Choose Artists” 
1988      Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, “Art of the Madonna”               
                  Old St. Patrick's Church, Chicago, Illinois
1985       San Francisco International Airport, SF, Ca., “Menagerie: Animal Images”                
1984       Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, Ca., “Olympiad 1984”
1983       Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California, “New Works/New Looks” (four person show)
1982        Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles,  Ca.. “Four From Pullman”               
                     Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, California, “Liquid Light: Watercolor Beyond the Traditional”               
                    Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California
1981        Lester Gallery, Inverness, Ca., “Brides, Grooms & Other Trappings”               
                    San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose,  Ca.,  “The Animal Show”
1980       Audrey Strohl Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee               Occidental Center, Los Angeles, Ca.,  "California Watercolor”                              
 l979        Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana
1976        E.B. Crocker Gallery, Sacramento, California , Crocker Annual (cash award)

​Awards: 
 WESTAF/NEA Regional Fellowship for Visual Artists, WORKS ON PAPER, 1992
Berkeley Art Center, Artist of the Month

Publications: 
Artists of the Bay Area, Vol. 1, published by Jen Tough Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, 2021
Photo Trouvee Magazine, Issue 8, 2022
Humana Obscura Magazine, Issue 6, 2023, 
THE STUDIO WORK Blog: Interview http-//thestudiowork.blog#11B7

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