Over the course of more than three decades, Joanne Kent (b. 1942) has probed the boundaries between painting and sculpture to produce a diverse body of work constantly broadening material possibilities. Born in Minnesota, Kent has spent the majority of her career in Washington, D.C., where she is a prominent figure of the art scene. Following a five year period in Heidelberg, Germany, Kent received her BFA and MFA from the University of Minnesota (1976, 1978). She then relocated to Washington, D.C. where she has lived and worked since.

Interested in direct visual stimulation unbound by narrative structure, Kent crafts tactile hybrid works that encourage visceral sensory engagement. An examination of the properties of materials, particularly paint, remains the central query driving her practice. Anchored in minimal aesthetics, an emphasis on repetition has guided Kent’s textural exploration.

Throughout her career, Kent has exhibited extensively throughout Washington, D.C. She was the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (1987), a Gottlieb Foundation grant (1992) and multiple grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (1993, 1997, 2020, and 2021). Her work was previously featured in 2024’s Beyond Surface at PFA-Washington, D.C

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