Joseph Souza

For many years my wife and I, as we traveled,we collected illustrated children's books.I was so excited to find books illustrated by artists such as Howard Pyle, Arthur Szyk, Arthur Rackham, Willy Pogany and Maxfield Perrish among others. It gave me such delight when finding those books and seeing their images for the first time.Studying their story telling pictures, I saw their work as genius,and it made a lasting impression on me.
I'm interested now in the social media, the imagery of today, as a source for inspiration. I have been curious about the so called "selfie" phenomenon and also the amazing growth and popularity of tattoo art. So I find it fun and interesting to draw ideas from both.
I relish in my skill as a portrait artist to catch the simple lines of the female nude. There is a powerful fundamental part of life exposed there in. Art history is full of such examples.

My first contact with the "art world" was when I was about eleven years old. I lived with my grandparents up on a hill overlooking the San Francisco south bay area. They operated a small ceramic studio set in back of the main house. I was shown the craft of slip cast molding, firing, glazing and "china painting" They encouraged me to draw and do some on glaze painting.
My high school years were also part of my artistic growth. I took all the art classes. A wonderful elderly couple who were art collectors took notice of me and arranged to have my paintings shown locally. Years later I looked back with great appreciation for their kindness of their mentoring and showing interest in my work.
After high school I graduated from the College of San Mateo . Then i attended San Jose State College and the University of Nevada in Reno Nevada where my ceramics teacher influenced me to travel to Japan and study pottery there. So my wife and I spent two times in Japan about a year and a half and I learned some of what Japanese pottery is all about. When we returned back to California I studied pottery at the University of California in Santa Barbara where i received a bachelors Degree in Art with an emphasis in ceramics.
All throug...