Biography and Artist's Statement

Biography

Joy Sacalis is a mixed media abstract artist currently exploring the boundaries of fabric in her artwork.

These materially rich, resonant, and layered ‘mixed media fabric paintings’ contain incidental objects, expressionist marks and gestures, and evidence of practical joinery (duct tape, safety pins, straight pins…).

“No material is worth more than another,” she says. “Everything plays a part in the overall design. Each piece is put through a process of painting—joining—cutting or ripping apart—joining again in a different way—painting over—adding on…I respond intuitively to what I see in the moment. They seem to take on a life of their own over time. I’m excavating all of my experiences and just trusting that the expressions are honest. When the piece feels finished I get to the hand sewing—I even sew on the duct tape.”

Joy was born in Bayonne NJ. She graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design. She served as the Landscape Architect for the City of Trenton, NJ for five years, then worked in several design firms including The Hillier Group in Princeton NJ. Her creative passions led her to magazine illustration, window display, and fabric painting for interior designers. Over the last fifteen years her desire for more artistic freedom drew her to abstract expressionism.

Joy works from her studio in Hightstown NJ.