Joan Bontje

Joan Bontje,
Watercolour & Mixed Media Artist

Joan enjoys instructing children and adults helping them bring out their artistic natures.  She regularly holds classes in design, sketching, painting, cartooning, clay work, collage work and watercolour.  

Watch for Joan's Solo exhibit October 3-28 
Entitled;  Just Joan Art Show & Sale
Reception October 3 from 1:00 to 4:30 pm at the
Rotary Room, Ajax Library, 55 Harwood S., Ajax Ontario.

Joan displayed her work at The 2009 Cobourg Waterfront Festival waterfrontfestival.ca/    

Joan Bontje’s art comes from an inner place in her soul, an emotional representation of life. Visions from nature and life make an impact on us all, as an artist, these images have layers of meaning and depth to interpret. Such is the art of Joan Bontje, as she takes these ethereal images from mind and nature, writing them into journal entries that give rise to an emotional process culminating in watercolours that bring an inner feeling of soul to the viewer. You feel a kindred depth, not literal, but something that goes deeper than the surface of your everyday world. More than a pretty picture Joan’s paintings are a story of a journey, sometimes filled with tears, sometimes peaceful and romantic, always an energy transposed in colour onto the starkness of paper white.

Looking at Joan’s work, you are at once transported into another dimension where those sparks of emotion, earthy dark and dramatic, fuse with intense light, startling one from the misty and muted meanderings of the mind. An adventure that leaves you transfixed and breathless.

In Joan’s own words, “I enjoy walking in the park among tall trees, rocks and the beauty of the sky and water that surround me. Uplifted by nature, I quiet myself and become an observer and listener. My soul becomes inspired and encouraged, and my creativity soars. I now get out of the way, and allow the Spirit of God to move onto my canvas.”

Visiting Joan in her studio home, you immediately see how the artist has surrounded herself with flowers in her Japanese inspired garden. Pathways meander around her home and through the garden where several ‘still life’ arrangements await.

Joan Bontje has a varied art background. She studied with Ken McFarland, Shelley Beach, Margaret Roseman and Sterling Edwards. She has taught classes in ‘Art Therapy’ as well as watercolour lessons for children and other artists.

Joan is a member of the Ajax Creative Art Centre, a group of artists who get together and paint giving encouragement, critique and support of one another.

Joan was Art Director for the Village of Ayr, in North Dumfries, a member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Group and the Cambridge Art Centre as well as, the Ajax Art Centre, PineRidge Art Council and the Oshawa Art Association. Joan has been featured in a display in Clarington and most recently in the Civic Centre in Ajax. Joan was nominated in 2007 for the Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts.

To contact Joan Bontje call  905 428 3483  or E-mail:

You can see more of Joan's work in The Joan Bontje gallery on her website.