Born in Steveston, B.C., and raised in Japan, Joyce Kamikura is a highly accomplished Canadian visual artist. In her childhood, she spent the first four years of her life in the internment camp, Lemon Creek, BC, before relocating to Japan. As a teenager, Joyce moved back to Canada, moving first to Montreal for two years before settling in Richmond. Joyce’s entrance into the art world was relatively late; after initially attending UBC for her Bachelor of Commerce and Business Administration Degree, she fifteen years later went back to school to study art and turn her hobby into a career.
“It is not so much in the final product, but in the process and struggle to bring all elements together to function in harmonious presentation in a painting that I derive so much satisfaction and pleasure as an artist.”
Joyce’s paintings represent her emotional response to her environment in a physical form. On the canvas, Joyce will exaggerate colours, textures, and other elements of the natural world as she transfers them onto the two-dimensional surface of her paintings. The subjects range from landscapes and florals to people, and in Joyce’s process of painting, each subject comes forth to elicit a distinct response from within her. Thus, each piece is unique in their placement on the spectrum from representational to abstract depending on how they personally speak to Joyce. A master of media, she is proficient in oils, watercolours, acrylic, mixed media, and collage. Her use of watercolour is recognized internationally, and the bright hues are juxtaposed with a transparency in pigment that speaks to her Japanese heritage.
The degree of her mastery has resulted in the honour of being one of the first Canadian artists bestowed the ranking of Signature Member in the National Watercolor Society (NWS – USA) and one of the first women awarded the highest rank of Senior Signature Member in the Federation of Canadian Artists. Her accolades are innumerable, though it is noteworthy that Joyce has been entered many a time into juried exhibitions worldwide and has had her work published in multiple print publications throughout her career. Some of these publications include the books: Painting Composition (US), Painting Color (US), Abstract in Watercolor (US), Best of Watercolor (US), Looking In, Looking Out (Canada); the magazines: American Artists (US), Art Impressions (Canada), Asahi Graph (Japan), Watercolour Gazette (Canada), International Artists (Australia), Viewpoint, (Canada); and the dailies: Vancouver Sun (Canada), and Times Colonist (Canada).
Artist’s statement:
"My paintings represent my personal response to the environment. My ideas are not whole impressions but fragments of what fascinates me and are the seeds from which my works begin to develop. As a result, although they undoubtedly have roots in my daily life, they are a good deal removed from reality. Florals, landscapes and people continually captivate me. The medium and support of my expression vary depending on a combination of my mood and the mood the subject creates in and of itself within me. They both range from soft transparent watercolours to vibrant mixed media on paper; from gentle brush strokes and texture on masonite to bold brush sweeps in oils and acrylics on canvas."
