About
I paint the intimate moments of daily life from the point of view of myth and the deeper territory of imagination. My visual language is deliberately diverse and includes both realism and abstraction. The sharp focus in one part of the canvas contrasts with diffuse passages in another. Dramatic compositions, color, reflections and cinematic light imbue the paintings with emotional charge and psychological depth.
My process begins by intuitively painting with water-based inks and paints on raw, unstretched fabric. I then progress to gesso, white, colored, or clear and paint in elements from my photographs and sketchbook studies to develop the composition. There I discover what the painting is about. The final layers are usually oil paint which give the most luscious effects. My practice is akin to dreaming—painting out certain things and introducing new figures or colors until the work gels.
I was born in Queens, New York; the daughter and granddaughter of firefighters. I have a BFA from Hartford Art School and MFA from Vermont College.
For the past 25 years I have lived and painted in New Hampshire with breaks for a Residency year in Dublin, Ireland and a extended trips to teach in Mexico, China, Taiwan and England. Currently my studio is in a former Mill in Harrisville, NH behind a motorcycle shop.
I have exhibited at the Fitchburg Art Museum, MA, Brattleboro Museum, VT, the Mariposa Museum, NH, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA, the Open Center NY, the University Museum of Contemporary Art at UMass and the Attleboro Museum, MA.
Recent & Upcoming Exhibitions
Carrie Haddah Gallery, Hudson, NY, March 2026
The Stairwell, Bridgeport, CT, Imaginaries of Diasporic Self, September, 2025
Cunningham Gallery, Born of Silence, Jaffrey, New Hampshire, August, 2025
The Canopy Gallery, Permission Slip, Chelsea, NY, July, 2025
Three Stones Gallery, Concord, NH, May to June, 2025
Blue Raven Gallery, Rockland, ME, Intimate Paradox, 2024
AVA Gallery, Lebanon, NH, Vegetative Soul, 2024
Gallery 51, North Adams, MA: Reflecting Ecologies, 2023
Conant Gallery, Groton, MA: Screens & Shadows- New Work by Joan Hanley and Humberto Ramirez, 2023
Manninen Center for the Arts, Endicott College, Beverly, MA What’s Going On? Paintings by Joan Hanley, 2022
Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA: 86th Annual Regional Exhibition, 2022
Bridgeport Art Center Gallery, Chicago, IL: Occupy the Moment, 2022
Rochester Museum of Fine Arts, Rochester, NH: Breath of the Forest, 2021
NHIA's Sharon Arts Center Gallery, Peterborough, NH: Monadnock Art Tour Preview Exhibition, 2018
Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT: Wherever You are is the Center of the World, 2011
Hamden Gallery, UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA: In The Public Sphere: Singular Works, Plural Possibilities, 2008
Mariposa Museum, Peterbrough, NH: Hari Amrit In Memorium, 2004
Attleboro Museum, Attleboro, MA: Before After, 2002
Lectures and Teaching
CAL Arts, Santa Calrita, CA. Artist Mentor 2025
MassArt MFA, Boston, MA: Artist Mentor, 2023
Lesley University MFA, Cambridge, MA : Artist Mentor, 2022
Smith College, Northampton, MA: Lecture - Art & Yoga, 2015
Vermont College, Montpelier, VT: Artist Teacher, 2008
Maine College of Art, Portland, ME: Artist Teacher, 2005-6
Marlboro College, Marlboro, VT: Visiting Professor Contemporary Art, 2004
Hofstra University, Queens, NY: Lecture - New Genre Public Art, 2004
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA: Lecture - On Practice, 2000
Education
Vermont College, Montplier, VT: MFA, 2001
Lesley University, Cambridge, MA: MA Creative Arts Therapies, 1988
Hartford Art School, Hartford, CT: BFA , 1976
Podcasts & Interviews
Talk Painting with Brian Rego- Joan Hanley, 2023
The Artist Plunge Podcast, Joan Hanley, 2022