Biography
Joseph Alexander Patrick was born February 10, 1938, in Chester, South Carolina. He received his BFA degree from the University of Georgia in 1960 followed by his MFA in 1962 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Patrick taught at Northeast Mississippi Junior College in Booneville, 1962-64, followed by teaching at Radford University in Virginia, from 1964-1966. He taught at the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History from 1965-2004, retiring as an Emeritus Professor. During his career at Iowa, Patrick was head of the department of drawing. Patrick was a Fulbright Senior Faculty Fellow at the Universidad de Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela in 1997.
Patrick has participated in numerous solo and juried group exhibitions in Mexico, the midwest, and New York City. He has had various portrait commissions, specifically from the University of Iowa Foundation and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics as well as the College of Medicine. His art works are in the collections of universities and colleges as well as in private and corporate collections.
The watercolor, "Summer Nude," in the Fine Arts Collection was created during a 1973 leave of absence when Patrick had begun to use watercolor in his drawings. By 1974, when this work was painted, Patrick related that he "was beginning to feel that [the medium] held promise" for him. He did a series of figures, interiors, and still life paintings, all made from life, directly observed from nature. This painting is part of that series. The painting was purchased by Luther College following a presentation and student critique done by Patrick on the campus in 1975.
Source of Biography
Who's Who in American Art. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 2009;
joseph-patrick.com