Joanne Demartino

“All people experience hardship, heartbreak, loss, or pain of some magnitude. Struggle is one of our common denominators as human beings. Times of struggle matter tremendously. It makes us empathize. It makes us stronger, and gives us our sense of humor. It’s what makes us. I started weaving canvas at a particularly trying period in my life, during which one of my works was damaged beyond repair. So, I pulled it apart and started cutting, adding paint, weaving, adding more paint until it was complete. I was pleased with the repurposed painting. It became a stronger composition than the painting that I thought had been destroyed. My work has always expressed itself this way, I like the therapy of the process.”

DeMartino’s inspirations have always come from life experiences. Around 1997, she started a series called “Windows”. These paintings explore geometric design patterns along with flowing brush strokes and random stamps and markings. Along with that, she started a mixed media series of mosaic style canvases where she explores one concept and interprets it in hundreds of small paintings. She has also been working on her series of intricately woven paintings.

She started painting when she was very young but believe...