Joan McKee graduated from Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting in 1966. After seventeen years of teaching junior high and elementary art in the public schools, she returned to BGSU for her Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and graphics. After that she taught watercolor and art education classes as an Assistant Professor of Fine Art until retirement in 1995. She now maintains a full time studio doing freelance and commission painting as well as exhibiting across the country.
Her interest in travel has taken her to Russia, the Baltic countries, Poland, the Czech Republic, Europe, and China. In all these countries the emphasis on heritage has provided a theme to be expressed in painting. Her interest in theater and stage design has offered additional material and a format for those paintings.
"Yes, I do windows." Working on shaped wooden panels, Joan has been painting trompe l'oeil works that depict the view through an open window looking out from the inside. Windows provide a feeling of refuge from the world while, at the same time, offering access to that world. This appeals to her interest in the ability of art to both conceal and reveal the meanings that are found in our physical surroundings. The open window invites the viewer to participate in the exploration of the natural or manmade surroundings seen through the frame provided by the artist. This is also a reference to the traditional role of representational painting as an implied window or proscenium view; however, these works are direct statements that allow the artist and viewer to share their experiences when confronted with a painting that stimulates both the senses and the imagination.