Joanna Poag

My work explores time and structure in its various states as it relates to personal narrative and memory.  I use colored clay to create playful collages that involve traditional quilt patterns and linear patterns that focus on movement. The material relationships between textiles, paper, and clay creates a dialogue about softness, strength, firmness of mind and narrative. For me, the most valuable aspect of collage is the cutting up and rearranging of elements that already exist. For centuries, women have been making compelling, complex arrangements of the scripts and scraps we’ve found or been given. This work mirrors my own experiences of fragmentation, and the revealing and obscuring of information. 

Joanna received her MFA from the School for American Crafts at RIT and her BS from Roberts Wesleyan College. In addition to her art practice, she is an Instructor of Art in Rochester, NY where she lives with her husband and three children.