The Winter Garden Art Association plays a crucial role in showcasing, encouraging, and celebrating individual creativity and artistic expression among local artists. West Orange County is a hotbed of artistic talent, with artists spanning various fields such as visual, performing, and literary arts. Their creations offer us avenues to imagine, dream, and wonder. In this feature, the Observer and the WGAA will shine a light on a local artist each month. This month, let's meet Joseph “Joe” Warren, a resident of Oakland. For more details on his art, visit warrenpaintings.com.

Discovering the Artistic Journey

How long has Joe been creating? He has been producing artwork throughout his life. Since retiring at the end of 2013, he has had the chance to focus on his lifelong passion for painting.What are his favorite mediums? For traditional ones, he prefers oil paint and watercolor. He also uses digital medium, specifically Photoshop, as a composition tool.What are his favorite themes in his artwork? Figure painting has always intrigued him. He is interested in people in action or interacting with each other, pets, or other things. The exploration of activities drives his compositions, giving insights into personalities. Like his other paintings, he likes a saturated color palette in figure painting.Specifically, the beach has always fascinated him. Growing up in the Santa Monica Canyon area of Southern California, the beach was always within reach. It was a place of renewal, reflection, sanctuary, and recreation. As he entered his teen years, the surf craze influenced every aspect of life. No wonder the beach inspired him. Consequently, he keeps returning to it for inspiration and finds the imagery very compelling.A spin-off of people at the beach is finding people gathering in public areas like outdoor markets and theme parks. He finds the density of communal activity captivating.Another theme he finds compelling is pop art. He likes to compose popular imagery in a way that seems unrelated on the surface. In short, he just wants to have fun with otherwise disconnected elements.Why is expressing himself through art important to him? Throughout his life, from childhood to adulthood and in his professional life, he has always enjoyed producing artwork. He loves the tactile quality of paint on canvas or paper and finds Photoshop useful in composing his paintings.Does he have a formal art education? Yes, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in graphic art from San Diego State University in June 1970. He furthered his art training by attending the University of Wisconsin, Madison, earning his Master of Arts in 1971 and his Master of Fine Arts in 1972. Both degrees were in painting, drawing, and design.What professional experience does he have? He has professional experience in the field of 2D art. What he learned from his work informed his painting. He taught drawing at Wayne State University. Internationally, he taught painting and drawing and was the head of the Department of Fine Art at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. He has also exhibited paintings nationally and internationally. His experience in East Africa has left a lasting mark.After returning from East Africa, his career shifted from fine art to interior design. For eight years, he worked as an interior designer specializing in hospitality design for Holiday Inns in Memphis, Tennessee.After an exciting and fulfilling career at Walt Disney Imagineering, he retired at the end of 2013. As the lead creative designer, he managed a team of artists and creative designers on various design-driven projects for the Walt Disney World portfolio. His creative responsibilities included concept artwork to illustrate ideas for themed environments and assisting project teams in developing Disney theme parks, attractions, resorts, and cruise ships. Many of his creations are on display throughout the Disney theme parks and resorts.

Artistic Influences

For artistic influences, there are two painters he looks to as teachers and mentors. Both approach their imagery with a unique, iconic vision.First, his experience as an artist illustrator with Walt Disney Imagineering. From 1995 to 2000, every summer WDI sponsored Imagineering artists and designers to attend weeklong painting workshops in Montana. Their teacher-mentor was Tom Gilleon, a talented Disney artist and illustrator known for his tepees and Native American heads. Over the six years, they became friends. Tom taught and modeled the use of technology in composing and producing paintings along with traditional media.The second painter who influenced him was Wayne Thiebaud, a California painter. He was a visiting artist at the University of Wisconsin during his graduate studies and allowed four interested students to watch him paint in his studio. He was one of them. His process, palette, and materials have stayed with him throughout his painting journey. He is wrongly known as a pop artist but prefers to be identified as a contemporary still-life painter. He also painted figures and landscapes. Thiebaud passed away several years ago at the age of 101.As for historical figures, he can find inspiration and influence from Sorolla, Sargent, the French Impressionists, and Warhol. There are many others as well.

Notable Displays of Artwork

His artwork has been displayed in notable places such as the Salmagundi Club in New York, New York; the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon, New York; the Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda; the SoBo Art Gallery in Winter Garden; and the Healthy West Orange Arts and Heritage Center at the Town of Oakland.

Awards and Publications

He won the Curator’s Award at SoBo Gallery in the Top Choice Annual Exhibition in 2023; third place in the 13th Biennial National Exhibition at the Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda in 2022; and the Blick Art Materials Award in the 93rd Grand National Exhibition in New York in 2021.His work appears in multiple publications like “A Portrait of Walt Disney World: 50 years of the Most Magical Place on Earth”; “Imagineering, A Behind the Dreams Look at Making MORE Magic Real”; “The Art of Walt Disney World”; and The Imagineering Workout, Exercises to Shape Your Creative Muscles.