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. In 2022 I was honored to be invited to become a member of 19 on Paper, a group of artists who create works of art on or with paper. 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.
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. He owned and operated Yoffa Woodworking in Newport, Rhode Island, 1984 – 2018, focusing on furniture, architectural millwork, and room interiors.