Jo-Ann Richards is an artist and commercial photographer from Victoria, British Columbia who creates abstract paintings. She received her Associate of Arts in Visual Art from Camosun College, Victoria BC and Associate of Arts in Commercial Photography from Sheridan College, Oakville Ontario. Jo-Ann was reintroduced to painting through Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts (MISSA). Jo-Ann continues to develop her painting practice through mentored residencies and courses at MISSA and the Vancouver Island School of Art. Her work has been exhibited in the greater Victoria region.

Artist statement

My work is driven from a desire to move from the representational of commercial photography to more ambiguous and less decipherable forms. Representation is replaced by abstract forms with a shift in focus to mood, emotion and atmosphere. 

 I am exploring themes; movement and stillness, energy and calm. This manifests in the work as the quiet of the foreground containing or harnessing the activity in the background. By layering graphite and black minerals over a textured ground of brightly coloured acrylic paint, I endeavour to harness activity through a quiet approach. Forms emerge from underlying surface, distinction between figure and ground is blurred. Black creates heightened sensory awareness that focuses attention to the subtleties of what lies beneath.