The capture of light on a subject is the thrill of painting from life for Joan Vienot. Living just minutes from Acadia National Park in Maine, she finds infinite inspiration for her current motif, the rocky coastline.
Joan taught art in a public high school for three years in her home state of Colorado after attaining a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art at the University of Northern Colorado. In Northwest Florida Joan was active in her local arts community, serving on the Board of Directors of the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County from 2011 to 2017. She also was the volunteer coordinator for the Emerald Coast Plein Air Painters from 2015 until 2022. From 2016 to 2021 Joan was involved with the Forgotten Coast en Plein Air, a 10-day invitational plein air painters event in Northwest Florida. She was named a Florida’s Finest Plein Air Ambassador for the event in 2016, 2019, and 2021, tasked with teaching novice plein air artists in 2-hour one-on-one sessions. She was awarded the Artist Residency for the event in 2019. In 2021 and 2022 she served on the steering committee for the conference Plein Air South.
About her regular practice of plein air painting and drawing or painting live models, Joan says, “Painting or drawing from life requires intense focus and present moment awareness in order to interpret a scene before the light changes radically or before the model moves. My paintings are an expression of the feeling of that moment.”
Awards/Recognition
Selected as Florida’s Finest Plein Air Ambassador, Forgotten Coast en Plein Air, Apalachicola and Port St. Joe, Florida, 2021, 2019, and 2016.
J.Leon Gallery, Miramar Beach, FL, October 2020 – December 2021. AKA Miramar Beach Creative Campus.
Sea & Sky Exhibit, Anne Hunter Galleries, Seaside, FL, March – May, 2020.
Artist Residency, Forgotten Coast en Plein Air, Port St. Joe, FL, 2019.
Foster Gallery at Ruskin Place in Seaside, FL, Winter Quarter, 2018-2019.
Galleries
Online… https://joanvienot.com
Memberships
Oil Painters of America
American Impressionist Society
ArtWavesMDI
Community Support
Blue Hill Public Library Paint the Peninsula Fundraiser, donating a percentage of artwork sales, 2023-2026
Bar Harbor Historical Society Hudson to Harbor Fundraiser, donating a percentage of artwork sales, 2023-2026
Northeast Harbor Library, donating a percentage of artwork sales
Southwest Harbor Public Library, donating a percentage of sales
Artwaves Community Art Ctr, donating a percentage of sales
Outright donation of artwork for various local nonprofit fundraisers.
2026 Calendar
April: Solo exhibit Northeast Harbor Library, NEH, Maine, 60 paintings of Coastal Maine
May: Acadia Senior College exhibit, Northeast Harbor Library, NEH, Maine
May-June: MDI Open (Shaw Jewelry), Northeast Harbor, ME
June: Flash! exhibit at ArtWaves, Town Hill, Maine
July: Summer Days, Joan Vienot and Anne Haynes, Southwest Harbor Public Library, SWH, ME
July: Paint the Peninsula fundraiser for Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill, ME
July: Hudson to Harbor fundraiser for Bar Harbor Historical Society
November: Plein Air Painters of Acadia, Southwest Harbor Public Library, SWH, ME