“If the trees can keep dancing, so can I!”
My art. My journey of healing.
Creativity played a role in my life from a very young age. My Mom was a maker. She taught me how to cook, bake, decorate cakes, make clothes (with and without a pattern), and she could turn any gathering into a party. In high school, I received my first camera and began taking pictures of my friends and everyday objects that with light and shadow became abstract. I didn’t create my own art for 20 years.
When I returned to the ceramic studio, I had no plan. I simply wanted to create. Coming back to clay coincides with my healing journey that began when my Mom died in August 2019. She died and my world exploded. I had been hiding a secret since the age of 5. A secret that I swore to myself that I would never tell my parents. I thought it would be too much for them. I was sexually abused as a child. My Mom died and my secret refused to stay silent. I began experiencing flashbacks of the abuse that were relentless. I just wanted to grieve the loss of my Mom, but the memories wouldn’t leave me alone. And so began my healing journey.
I returned to my art in January 2020. Working with clay is reminiscent of my time in the kitchen with my Mom – working with my hands, kneading and needing. Clay willingly accepts all my emotions. I found my voice in clay.
My work began with a large grove of trees, the “Fire Circle”. I was trying to process some of the memories of my abuser and after a visit home to be with Dad after my Mom’s death, I had this image in my head which inspired this series. I imagined being in my parent’s backyard with my Mom and my tribe of supporters. We were in a big circle around her fire pit burning off the bad memories.
It felt so good and supportive. The people in my circle became the trees I create. All the trees, my healing tribe in one circle.
Encircling me in support and witnessing the fire in the middle. Art has been the light that guides me on my healing journey. The
trees document my journey. I am the trees - battered, rejoicing, and supported. I can continue to grow.
From this large grove of trees grew all the individual trees I create. I joked in the beginning that I was making my own forest, and
now I am.
Joanne Kirves was born and raised in Ohio. In high school, she was given a camera and so began her official art career. Her high school years were spent photographing her friends and the world around her. This led her to study photography in college.
Joanne has a B.F.A. in photography and a minor in ceramics from Ohio University. Initially, photography was her main medium, specializing in Polaroid Transfers. For several years she created and exhibited her art, taught photography, and volunteered for a small children’s gallery.
Looking for a way to stay in the arts and make a living, Joanne turned her focus to arts administration and pursued her M.A. in Arts Policy and Administration from Ohio State University. She moved to Longmont, CO in 1999 and jumped into the local art scene.
After two decades of curating and promoting local artists, Joanne returned to her art. Clay allows her to share her voice in a different medium. Her ceramic sculptures reflect her life’s journey.
Joanne documents her healing journey in clay and works with other survivors of childhood sexual abuse to heal through art.
Joanne is a volunteer comment moderator on the Beyond Surviving - Healing Sexual Abuse Facebook page and a Tech Moderator for Time To Tell writing circles. She is also the Board President of Longmont Creates, the non-profit arm of the Longmont Creative District.