Jo Wood-Brown, raised in Los Angeles, received her BFA at Otis Art Institute where she was taught by Charles White. In 1976, she moved to NYC, continuing her education at Lester Polakov Studio and Forum of Stage Design. Her formative years in New York City were shaped by process artists and the site-specific concepts around PS1 and influenced by her friendships working at The Kitchen among artists seminal to the multi-arts genre. In the 1980’s, she was part of the East Village and later Soho gallery scenes, exhibiting her paintings and installations at International With Monument and Lisa MacDonald Gallery and participating in the rogue Pier 34 installations. For the last 25 years, Wood-Brown has worked closely with Arts for Art, an avant-garde jazz based multi-arts non-profit in NYC, creating works in its annual Vision Festival, notably with musicians William Parker and Rob Brown; poet Fred Moten; choreographers Patricia Nicholson, Miriam Parker, Nancy Zendora and Sally Silvers, to name a few. In addition, her art has been impacted by artists from the ancient cultures of the Middle East and Egypt; for many years Wood-Brown drew artifacts for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After 9/11, she founded Artist Exchange International to promote a dialog between artists in different countries around situations of trauma. Exhibitions and panels were held in Belfast, Northern Ireland; Wuppertal and Berlin, Germany and in NYC. She exhibited with Paul Sharpe Gallery in Chelsea and developed InnerCity Projects interdisciplinary environments with Miriam Parker. Most recently, Parker and Wood-Brown created “Lost Voyage” an installation of evolving performances by a collective of diverse women artists that include rebeca medina, Jean Carla Rodea, Merche Blasco, Asiya Wadud, Tiffany Moore, and Alystre Julian in residency at FiveMyles gallery, Brooklyn.
https://www.jowoodbrown.com/