Paintings by Joanne Holtje

Creative Connections Gift Shop & Gallery
December 6 2025 - January 31, 2026
Artist Reception Saturday December 6, 1-3PM
56 Main Street, Ashburnham MA

Artist’s Statement

My paintings embody my love for the physicality of paint, exuberant color, and expressive mark-making. Much of my work references the landscape, some more literally than others. The wellspring of this goes back to my youth when I spent long hours in solitary wanderings in the woods, fields, and riverbanks of my hometown. I still feel most alive when drinking in the full sensory experience of being in and of the natural world.

I am interested in painting the spirit or energy of a place more than making a record of visual information from direct observation. I  begin by randomly pushing paint around the surface of the panel. I welcome memory and emotion to filter through me as I work, allowing images to emerge and submerge rather than directing a predetermined outcome. This practice engenders a sense of openness and exploration which facilitates a state of being fully present to what is happening before me, much like the state I experience  when in nature.

I like to keep a certain amount of ambiguity in my paintings with the intention of allowing the observer to bring their memories to the paintings and discover, perhaps, a favorite or forgotten place of their own.