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Joan Caefer received degrees in both art and counseling from Boston University, Massachusetts.
She furthered her studies at Wellesley College, the College Art Study Abroad in Paris, France,
and the Printmaking Center at the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico. Among the influential
figures with whom she has studied are Janet Folsom, Victor Candell, Michael Mazur, Brenda
Horowitz and Dan Welden. Joan lives on Cape Cod and works from her studio overlooking
Stage Harbor and the Chatham lighthouse.
As a young student-artist, Joan enjoyed working in acrylics, watercolors, pencil-and-ink drawings.
Since adopting monotypes as her major focus, she has created a unique method of developing
her painting/printing technique. Every monotype is an adventure for her - an image waiting to
emerge. Joan sees images everywhere - on the floor of an old barn, reflections cast over the
water, in the New England woods and memories of years spent in Austria, Italy and especially
Provence - images that later become paintings. Her more recent work has a greater depth of
field, new richness of color, with multiple layers and a variety of themes. Parts of her psyche and
emotional inner being are communicated to the viewer so that he is then able to project his own
feelings into the subject. But each and every piece of work is a one-of-kind, unique creation
with many lyrical qualities.
Joan's work has received many awards and has been featured in exhibitions and galleries
around New England as well as in national shows. One small Caefer watercolor and a large
monotype are included in the Dr. Beatrice H. Barrett collection in the DeCordova Museum in
Lincoln, Massachusetts. Joan is a charter member of the National Museum
of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., former president of the Printmakers of Cape Cod
as well as having served for many years on the Board of Directors of the Chatham Cultural
Council and the Creative Arts Center of Chatham, Massachusetts. Her current membershps
include the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Monotype Guild of New England, the Printmakers
of Cape Cod, and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum where her work has been
accepted in many member and juried shows.