Joe Yoffa
“Since joining The Mill at Shady Lea, N. Kingstown, RI in late 2017, I have primarily focused on soft pastels, using that medium in a painterly fashion, to achieve a more gestural appearance, and have started using acrylic and watercolor underpainting to create more depth. Watercolor and various types of colored pencils also play a large part in my drawing style. After spending almost 40 years in the woodworking profession, I feel fortunate I’ve been able to immerse myself into my two- dimensional work”
Joe’s themes include a profound interest in the natural world and the beauty of everyday
wonders. This outlook is embodied in an early series of mixed media collages based on squid, monotypes that used their ink as a printmaking medium and the CB Series in which the subject of
fried eggs is used to investigate color, composition and gesture.
Staying close to home in Jamestown, RI during Covid, he investigated the rocky shoreline of
Narragansett Bay, using the unlimited resource of rockweeds, periwinkles, acorn barnacles, and
lichens as inspiration for the NB Series. A visit to Bellingham, Washington in September of 2022, inspired the WS Series which explores lupine seed pods and the visual effect of the smoke from the Washington fires. In keeping with Joe’s desire to present focused series on our website, selected pieces of the WS series are presented here.
Joe’s new plein air series SILO, was started while on the island of Eleuthera, in the Bahamas, January of 2023, but was inspired by his family visits to Eleuthera since 2005. Rather than stressing the verticalness, he utilizes sections of the silos to accentuate the tension, texture and shadows.
Joe Yoffa graduated in 1979 with a BFA, Painting, from Southeastern Massachusetts University, North Dartmouth, MA.