One of America’s most successful floral landscape artists, Joann Rea was born in St. Louis, Missouri. At the early age of five, she began showing the natural talent that has remained fresh in the works of this primarily self-taught artist.

As the 1970's were ending, Rea found herself relocated to Stillwater, Oklahoma, where her husband was Chairman of the Economics Department at Oklahoma State University. It was then she became a student of Jacques Hans Gallrein, who at 88 had established himself as a Master landscape painter. Today, she resides in Maryland with her husband and three children.

A Unique Style

Rea describes her style of painting as a mixture of Realism and Impressionism. From Realism, she incorporates a steadfast attention to detail. Realism has also given her a kind of “gardening truth”, that is, her gardens always have the correct types of flowers or trees or shrubs that would be found in a particular climate at a particular time of year. From Impressionism, Rea adds to her work a love of light. She gives this light a force of its own, a strength that emerges from her many strokes that often recall the intense pointillism of Seurat.

Important Shows

Rea’s work has been shown in important gallery exhibitions across America and Japan. Following is a partial list:

1983

Kruckmeyer and Cohn Gallery, Evansville, Indiana, Group show;

1984

Gallery of Arts, Kansas City, Missouri; Southwest Gallery, Dallas, Texas; Jan Maree Gallery;

1986

Winston Churchill Memorial, Fulton, Missouri, Solo exhibition

1989

Dyansen Gallery, Boston; Dyansen Gallery, Arlington, Virginia; International landscape show

1990

Art Expo, New York, Group show; Harajuku Art Festival, Tokyo, Japan; International Group show