Joyce Lister's landscape, cityscape, portrait, figure, and still-life pastel paintings reflect her travels and her interest in nature, people, and animals. At a distance Joyce's paintings appear realistic, but, upon close inspection, they reveal a fascinating impressionistic quality. Her compositional design, color choices and personal style combine to give her paintings energy and strength, and serve to evoke a mood, capture a moment, and engage the viewer in a visual dialogue.
Joyce graduated from Bennington College in 1958, majoring in Fine Arts, with a specialty in sculpture and graphics. Originally from New York City, she moved to Baltimore in 1971, where she worked as a teacher and then as an Information Technology professional. In 1998 Joyce began experimenting with pastels and currently works exclusively in that medium. She briefly attended classes at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Mitchell School of Fine Arts. As Workshop Coordinator for the Maryland Pastel Society from 2005 through 2018, she organized and attended more than 20 workshops with nationally acclaimed pastel artists such as Richard McKinley, Doug Dawson, Margaret Dyer, Terri Ford, Kim Lordier, Lorenzo Chavez, Liz-Haywood-Sullivan, and Jeanne Rosier Smith, among others.
Joyce is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America, as well as Signature Member and member of the board of the Maryland Pastel Society. She is also a member of the Pastel Society of Southeast Texas. In addition, Joyce has taught at local art schools for many years and has served as Judge/Juror for some local art exhibitions, as well as guest demonstrator and critiquer for local art organizations. She currently leads a weekly session on zoom with a group of pastel artists.
Joyce's pastel paintings have been accepted into numerous juried national and regional shows, where they have won a number of awards, and have been widely exhibited in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Southeast states. In addition, her work is held in private collections across the country. and is included in three books: "Best of Worldwide Landscapes", Kennedy Publishing, "100 Artists of the Mid-Atlantic", Ashley Rooney, and "Finding Your Stye in Pastel". by Jean Hirons.