Jo Carole

 Jo Carole is a retired art teacher from Jefferson County School District.   She taught art for 12 years in elementary schools in the Golden area, as well as elementary art for Douglas County in Highlands Ranch.  Jo also has another 10 years of teaching experience in English and is a reading specialist.
 
Jo's painting subject matter is varied.  She especially likes to do still-lifes in acrylic/oil, flowers and people in water color, and contemporaries in pastel.  She also enjoys doing commission paintings.  Her most recent sales have included paintings in all three mediums.  Currently, she is working on pastels and batiks.  Finally, you might just find Jo hand-building something in clay. 
 
Jo's studied art at the University of Northern Colorado.  Her art education also includes study in Italy and working directly with the late Angelo di Bennedetto (internationally known for his paintings, sculptured canvasses, and sculptures).  di Benedetto has a mural on the ceiling of Justice Building, bronze murals at National Jewish Center, and a large park sculpture-all in Denver, CO.
 
Jo has served numerous times as a juror for Douglas County, Boulder County, and invitational art shows.  She has shown work at the University of Denver, Pagosa Springs Art Council and Ignacio Senior Art Show.  Her work is currently displayed and at the Artisans of the Southwest Gallery in Pagosa Springs, CO, the D'Vine Wine and Art Gallery in Manitou Springs, CO, and in her studio in Arboles, CO.
 

CONTACT ARTIST JO

Commission Jo to create art in the medium, color, size and subject of your choice!

Enjoy viewing some of Jo's work!  Many of these and more are available for purchase! You may also have art work designed and created just for you - exactly the way you want it!

I first became interested in art in the 3rd grade when I won a war savings bond for first place in a poster contest featuring saving during the war.  As a child, I loved to draw my horse.
 
At the time that I was in K-12 school, there were no art classes as part of the curriculum.  When I was ready to enter college, I wanted to major in art, but my parents, who went through the depression in the 1920’s, insisted that I study something more practical that I could use to support myself.
 
After some floundering around trying nursing and social work studies, I settled down to become an elementary teacher.  It was during a sabbatical that I started studying art at UNC and then on to Italy.  In Italy I lived in an old monastery (We never saw the Monks.) in a small village called Ponte, which was about 2 km from a small town, Filini Valdarno, and about 40 km. from Florence.   Art teachers came to the monastery to teach.  I studied the old master’s technique in oil painting, printmaking, and art history.  Upon my return from Florence, I met Angelo diBennedetto, who after seeing some of my work and agreed to take me as a resident student.
 
At Angelo's, I lived in a small room on the 3rd floor of a drafty old building in Central City, CO that was one time a livery stable.  I had no heat in my room except for a small wood stove that quickly burned out during the night.  My room was off a large studio, also on the 3rd floor and also with no heat except from a home-made large wood stove, which I had to get started every morning so I could work.  When the temperature dropped below freezing in my room, Angelo allowed let me come down to the second floor and sleep on the couch.  The second floor of the building contained a very large gallery filled with Angelo’s work, a welding/iron work studio on one side and a small kitchen on the other.
 
I worked every day that winter upstairs, coming down for a lunch of soup, cheese, crackers, slices of an apple, and a very small glass of wine  (approximately 3 oz.).  Angelo made a pot of soup once a week, and we ate the same soup for the week.   Angelo came up to the studio to check on me and my work fairly often.  In the evenings, after supper, I would draw with Angelo or get other instruction.  Once or twice a month, a group of artists, professors, and other person of academia interest would visit.  We would sit in a circle or around a large table and discuss art, art history, world events, and other topics of interest to the group.

 
Following this year of study, I decided that it was time for me to follow my heart and teach art.  Since I had no official degree in art, the district art coordinator informed me that I would never get a job teaching art in Jefferson County.  (He also had some philosophical differences with Angelo.)  The art coordinator believed artists and teachers needed college degrees in art, while Angelo believed that learning from the masters and other artists was just as, if not more, valuable.
 
Well, it took me three interviews until I was hired to teach art.  The first principal said I would like to hire you, but I am afraid to because I have 3 applicants with college degrees in art.  I was hired by a principal who eventually became the art coordinator’s boss!  Thus I began the final segment of my teaching career and I loved it.  As an elementary art teacher, I taught drawing and painting, paper making, hand-building in clay, batik, and worked in a variety of mediums.  Every class was different and every year was different.  I never was bored and never had more than one bad day in a row!   My students won a number of awards in art.
After retiring, I moved to Arboles and began my journey as a working artist.  In many ways, I am relearning, and in others, simply learning.  Although I had taught watercolor basic techniques and classes for my students, I had never really tried to work in watercolor until I studied under Betty Slade in Pagosa Springs.  I am enjoying this medium.  I also absolutely love working with pastels and just completed a workshop with Lorraine Trenholm of Ignacio, Colorado.  Because I have taught so many mediums and enjoy working in many of them, I have a hard time just staying with one medium so I just go with my heart each day.

If you are ever in the Durango/Pagosa Springs area, I'd love to have you visit my studio and perhaps even commission a piece especially for you.  My studio is almost always open, and several artists often come to paint with me.