JoAnna received her MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2000. She has been part of group exhibitions far and wide from Berlin and Tokyo to New York City to Philadelphia and Fargo, ND. JoAnna has had a variety of solo exhibitions and her work has been published in books and magazines. JoAnna has also received grants from galleries, SIUC Women’s Studies program, the Southern Illinois Cultural Alliance, and Carbondale Community Arts. As part of these grants, JoAnna has worked with children ages 10-14 exploring storytelling and body image. She has also taught photography and design courses as a visiting instructor in both the School of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and Texas Tech University. Her current work focuses on memory and memento. It began in 2000 with photographs of 30 white dresses that she constructed placed in natural settings then photographed. This work evolved into collage and assemblage. She began painting her collages after an inspiring trip to New York City in February of 2002 and a visit to the Picasso/Matisse Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Her 3-D collage and assemblage work is at www.joannajohnson.name.

Most recently she has returned to her dresses, but this time with a group of 30 black dresses and one black and white dress. Her website focuses on her photography of the three dress projects. These projects have resulted in two bodies of work, which have been exhibited or will be exhibited in Texas and through out the country. The black and white dress is featured in the exhibit, dragged & dropped. The 30 white dresses and the 30 black dresses are in the exhibit, Living In Between. This exhibit also features a video projection and the dresses themselves. Her newest body of work (which is in progress) features dresses made from old tablecloths using the same dress pattern as before, but adapting the skirt to be a full circle. This time she is actually putting young girls into the dresses. They enjoy wearing the dresses especially when they get to twirl. JoAnna is photographing the girls in groups and is trying to capture their spontaneous interactions and how they are transformed by the costume of the dress. Work in progress is at www.lessonsintwirling.com

JoAnna lives in Austin, TX where she works at her studio in the Flatbed Press building.  JoAnna moved from Carbondale, IL where she was an active community volunteer and organized an Empty Bowls Project for the Good Samaritan Homeless Shelter and Food Pantry including The One-of-a-Kind Bowl Show. Her project raised over $8,000 for Good Sam. JoAnna has three children Jennifer, Stacey, and Andy all of whom live and work in Los Angeles. Andy and Jen work in the television industry. Stacey works in fashion. JoAnna enjoys visiting her grandchildren, Sarah and Lucas, often as possible.