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Sculptor

Joyce Zipperer

Joyce Zipperer grew up in Mobile, Alabama, home of the Mardi Gras. Yearly parades of elaborate floats and costumes were major events and made a lasting impression on Joyce, who had a natural knack for drawing, sewing and building objects. Her mother was an excellent seamstress and her dad was a carpenter.

She studied Clothing and Textiles at Auburn University, AL, later becoming a graphic artist while developing a fine art career. Basically self-taught, she painted for several years, before gravitating to sculpture in the 1980’s. Later taking up stone carving and welding from 1997-2002, Joyce studied stone carving with international master, Constantine Seferlis, of the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.

In 2003, Joyce was inducted into the National Association of Women in the Arts (NAWA), for sculpture, in New York City. Currently a member of the Washington Sculptors Group, she served on the board for twelve years. A book, ‘100 Artists of the Mid Atlantic’, by E. Ashley Rooney, published in 2011, features her work.

Selected recent shows:
2018 LATITUDE: Katzen Art Museum, American University, Washington, D.C.; 2015, Central Booking Gallery, NYC;
2012 solo exhibition, NAWA Gallery, 5th Ave., NYC;
2013 Exhibition, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY;
Katzen Art Center, American University;
Luther W. Brady Gallery, George Washington University;
U.S. Botanic Garden, Washington, D.C.;
The Painted Bride, Philadelphia, PA;
Suffolk Museum, Suffolk, VA;
Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ;
Huntsville Museum of Contemporary Art, AL;
Carroll Reese Museum, ETSU, TN;
Galeria Mesa Arts Center, AZ;
LH Horton Gallery, San Joaquin Delta College, CA;
Vasteras Museum of Art, Sweden;
1111 Sculpture Space, Washington, D.C.

Autumn Leaf

Copper 2014

The inspiration for AUTUMN LEAF was an actual oak leaf I spotted on the sidewalk one day that had dried in a curious position. The pointed extensions of the leaf had turned up and down in the proper places, resembling a fanciful shoe shape.

Ouch

Hand carved limestone 1998

OUCH was the second stone I had ever carved. I picked out a block of limestone which had the best proportions for an upright, compact shoe. I could immediately envision what I wanted to bring out of this stone. Shoes have been a big subject in my work.

Hell On Wheels

Aluminium/stainless steel/ glass beads/ribbon/antique wheels 2012

One day I was sitting in the library parking lot and noticed a woman struggling to walk across the lot in a pair of platform shoes on uneven pavement. I thought, "she really needs help!" Hence, the inspiration for HELL ON WHEELS.

Nike’s Slipper

Copper on wooden shoe last/ Antique copper wheel
2009

I found an antique wooden shoe last which meant I could attach any metal shape by use of nails; or adding wheels, to create whatever I wished to express in a shoe design. NIKE'S SLIPPER was the result.