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Joanna Pottle (she/her) is an American artist, educator, researcher, writer, and cross-cultural exchange facilitator based in Kraków, Poland. She is an alumna of several fellowship programs including the U.S. Fulbright Program to Poland (2019-2020/21), the Kosciuszko Foundation and Humanity in Action (2022-23). She holds a BFA in Studio Art, BA in Art History with an Art Education Track, earning an MA at the Jagiellonian University (2020-2022) to research the intersection of art in public space, cultural / dissonant heritage, collective memory and identity, and democracy. Joanna has worked and exhibited internationally, including a US Embassy in Poland grant "Solidarity Project" (2020-2021), the International Mark Rothko Painting Symposium (Latvia, 2021), The Old School Residency (Bulgaria, 2022), the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund “Migrating Memoryscapes” (Poland, 2023), and CEC Artslink Art Prospect Network Residency with Open Place (Poland, 2023).
Her studio practice combines abstract mixed media techniques including painting, printmaking, drawing, and installations and her research includes investigations of mapping, public art and space, contemporary art, post-colonial and post-soviet/communist studies, collective memory and shame, (re)negotiation of previously untold or unheard narratives, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, collective memory and identity, cross-cultural dialogue and exchange, peace-building, as well as active (visual) listening and practices of care.
Joanna is currently serving as the Community Engagement Manager for Humanity in Action (HIA) in a remote capacity to facilitate community engagement and outreach opportunities transnationally for the alumni community across the organizations 6 offices throughout Europe and the United States. Additionally, she was the co-lead of a Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) grant project with Frankee Lyons in Poland to help provide integration support for migrants and non-migrants through art and discussion workshops in Kraków and Warsaw from May-November 2023. Learn more here.
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Born in Richmond, Virginia, US, based in Kraków, Poland.
Joanna Pottle (she/her) is a visual artist, researcher, educator, writer, and cross-cultural exchange facilitator. Her studio practice combines abstract mixed media techniques including painting, printmaking, drawing, and installations and her research includes investigations of mapping, public art and space, contemporary art, post-colonial and post-soviet/communist studies, collective memory and shame, (re)negotiation of previously untold or unheard narratives, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, collective memory and identity, cross-cultural dialogue and exchange, peace-building, and active (visual) listening practices. She is a graduate of James Madison University, holding a BFA in Studio Art and a BA in Art History with an Art Education track.
She is a US Fulbright Student Researcher alumna to Poland (2019-2020/21). For her Fulbright, she executed a combination of art projects, curatorial work, and educational programming with the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (MOCAK), with a grant extension Fall 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. She has continued cooperation with MOCAK following her Fulbright, providing English language programming such as guided tours and workshops of the museums permanent and temporary exhibitions. Joanna has worked and exhibited internationally including a US Embassy in Poland grant (2020-2021), the International Mark Rothko Painting Symposium (Latvia, 2021), The Old School Residency (Bulgaria, 2022), the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund “Migrating Memoryscapes” (2023), and CEC Artslink Art Prospect Network Residency with Open Place (Poland, 2023). Her grant project through the US Embassy in Poland, “Solidarity Project/Projekt Solidarność served as a virtual exchange between American and Polish artists to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Please see here for more.
She currently resides in Krakow, Poland, having earned a MA in European Studies Programme, Central and Eastern European Studies: Research Track to focus on the intersection of cultural heritage, art in public space, the freedom of artistic expression, and democracy at Jagiellonian University (2020-2022). For the 2022-2023 academic year, Joanna is conducting a grant project with the Kosciuszko Foundation to conduct artistic research and workshops including with the Fine Arts Academy in Warsaw for the summer semester (February-June 2023) as a visiting university teacher to co-facilitate (alongside Katie Zazenski) a course of her own design entitled ‘Mapping Memoryscapes’, which examines the connections between artistic interventions of mapping collective memory and identity, cultural heritage, and physical space through artistic practice. Additionally, she is cooperating with Contemporary LYNX Art Magazine as a Freelance Writer (view recent work here and here) and is currently a fellow with Humanity in Action as a participant in the international Mapping Inequities Fellowship —learn more here.
Joanna is currently serving as the Community Engagement Manager for Humanity in Action (HIA) in a remote capacity to facilitate community engagement and outreach opportunities transnationally for the alumni community across the organizations 6 offices throughout Europe and the USA (United States, Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and internationally). Additionally, she is co-ran a Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) 2023 grant project with Frankee Lyons in Poland to help provide integration support for migrants and non-migrants through art and discussion workshops in Kraków and Warsaw from May-November 2023. Learn more here.