JOANNE GREGORY
Joanne Gregory has loved everything about the sea and its shore since she was a young girl collecting shells, rocks, and glass on family trips to the beach every summer. She came across her first Sailors Valentine while browsing at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Intrigued by their raw beauty and history, she began researching and discovered modern-day artists filling beautiful octagon shaped boxes with unique shell designs meticulously arranged from thousands of seashells, urchins, and corals. In 2015, she met Sandy Moran, an award-winning shell artist from Yarmouthport, MA. After taking one of Sandy’s Sailors Valentine workshops, they quickly became friends. Under Sandy’s guidance, Joanne created dozens of her own Sailors Valentines filling her home with these inspired works of art. Several of her Sailors Valentines have been displayed at the Brownell Library in Little Compton and have been featured items in local charity auctions.
Today, Joanne spends much of her free time in her home studio located in Little Compton, RI where she continues to create Sailors Valentines using inspiration and encouragement from Sandy and many other artists she has met along the way. She travels to Sanibel Island, FL twice a year combing the beaches for some of the most colorful shells in the world washed in daily from the Gulf of Mexico.
In addition to the creation of one-of-a-kind Sailors Valentines, Joanne creates sea inspired jewelry and wall hangings using special bead embroidery techniques incorporating seashells and glass beads from Japan.
Joanne is a member of Westport Art Group and South Coast Artists.
Contact
seascapestudiolc@gmail.com