Jo Ford
I am an Artist/ Painter who grew up on the West Coast but loves everywhere.
Artist Bio Born in Marin County, California in 1958, Jo Ford received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and an MFA from UC Berkeley in 2002, where she graduated valedictorian. Over the subsequent years, Ford has balanced an active studio practice with curatorial projects and arts education. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and featured in publications including ‘Artist’s of the Bay Area,’ by Jen Tough Gallery and ‘AⱯ’ a London-based arts magazine. She has received awards from jurors Sandow Birk, Renny Pritikin Enrique Chagoya, and the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Recent exhibitions include the Seattle Art Fair (2024), Meloy Gallery (2024), Miami Art Fair (2023), and Benicia Arts Gallery (curated by Sandow Birk, 2023). Ford has curated numerous exhibitions, including with San Francisco Art Institute Artists’ Committee, the Oakland Art Gallery (co-curated with Maria Porges), and at the People’s Bazaar Gallery in Berkeley, CA. She recently moved to Bellingham, WA, in the Pacific Northwest where the abundance of wild natural places has expanded her narrative explorations. In the past year Ford has, along with her husband Blaise Smith, begun the L7 Gallery that has had both live and online art shows.
“My paintings germinate from observation and memory, manifesting through imagination and spontaneity. Working mostly in oils, I employ traditional techniques (scumbling, dry-brush, underpainting…) to capture atmospheres from photographs or drawings I do. I invite characters to inhabit these scenes that want to be there. My themes are nature/wilderness as safety/comfort, a connection with animals and children, and often a slice of the evidence of human civilization. No doubt my images derive from a chaotic childhood that included being the middle child (had to watch over the younger three) of two very alcoholic parents. My first memories are of doing art with milk cartons and tin foil. So, why I do art? I always have, and it allows me to feel connected to myself and the world. In my mid-teens I discovered Art History, spending hours in libraries and then going to museums and galleries in my early twenties. I put myself through art school(s) and have continued creating daily.”
- Medium
- Oil on Canvas
- Style
- Surrealist/landscape/figurative
- Exhibitions
- 2026 Rexville Grange, Mt. Vernon, Washington 2025 PNW Biennial, Umpqua Valley Arts, Roseburg, Oregon 2025 Texas National, Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, Texas 2025 Natuaralist Gallery, “Chaos”, Washington, D.C. 2024 Seattle Art Fair, Seattle, WA 2024 Meloy Gallery, Bellingham, WA 2024 Gallerium, “Unreal”, (Online), Canada 2023 Meloy Gallery, Bellingham, WA 2023 Miami Art Fair, Miami, Fl 2023 Art Fair San Diego, San Diego, CA 2023 Benicia Arts Gallery, “History Reimagined”, Benicia, CA 2023 Jen Tough Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico 2022 Boomer Art Gallery, London, UK 2022 Connections, (curator and participant), People’s Bazaar, Berkeley, CA 2022 Artist Alliance, Mother Nature, (Online) 2021 Art Works Downtown, San Rafael, CA 2021 Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 2021 Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA 2021 Gallery Ring, (Online) 2020 Jen Tough Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (Online) 2020 Gearbox Gallery, Oakland, CA 2020 Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA 2018 SHOH Gallery, Berkeley, CA 2008 Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland, CA (Curator) 2008 Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles. CA 2007 Sanchez Art Center, Bay Area Annual, Pacifica, CA 2004 Giorgi Gallery, Oakland, CA 2002 U.C. Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA 2001 Worth Ryder Gallery, U.C., Berkeley, CA 2000 Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1999 City Arts Gallery, Millennium Show, San Francisco, CA 1999 Artists Alliance of California, Tahoe City, CA 1998 East New Mexico University, Portales, NM 1998 Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA 1997 Center for the Visual Arts, Oakland, CA 1997 Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA 1996 Gallery Route One, Pt. Reyes, CA 1994 California State Fair, Sacramento, CA
- Education
- 2002 University of California, Berkeley, Master of Fine Arts 1987 San Francisco Art Institute, Bachelor of Fine Arts 1983 College of Marin, 2 Associate of Arts, Dramatic Arts/Humanities
- Awards
- 2021 Included in publication “Artists of the Bay Area”, by Jen Tough 2021 Berkeley City Arts Grant, Berkeley, CA 2019 Included in ‘Average Art’, industry art magazine, November ed., London 2019 Winner of ‘Art Best’ Award, Artjobs, September, International Online 2008 Selected Artist Award, Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA 2003 Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, U.C. Berkeley, CA 2002 J. Ruth Kelsey Merit Travel Award, U.C. Berkeley, CA 2002 Valedictorian MFA, U.C. Berkeley, CA 2000 U.C. Berkeley Master’s Candidate Award, Berkeley, CA 1999 1st Place Award, Millennium Show, City Arts Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1998 Annual Calendar Award, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA 1998 Honorable Mention, East New Mexico University, Portales, NM 1994 Award of Excellence, California State Fair, Sacramento, CA
- Current projects
- I am currently finishing up two large paintings of Women Warriors, one being Jeanne d'Arc and the other being Athena. I plan to continue with a few other Women, but am also beginning sketches and prep work on a large scroll, which includes histories both human and natural, that I have been thinking about for a few years.
- Inspiration
- Sigmar Polke / Goya / Dorothea Tanning / Edward Hopper / Eva Hesse / Leonora Carrington / Remedios Varo / Odilon Redon / Golbanaou Moghaddas