Artworks
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About
Biography
Joya Assael is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Richmond, VA. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, with a B.A. in Visual Studies, she worked in the commercial art world and as an educator in New York, NY. She then moved to Richmond, VA, to further explore her passion for art education. She is currently a student in the Masters of Art Education program in the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University.
In her art making and education work, Assael enjoys exploring play and superstition, ritual and comfort, and surrealism and the home. She loves to cook for friends, swim in rivers and oceans, walk around large cities and beautiful cemeteries, start projects and never finish them, and lay on the floor with her pet rabbit, Olafur. Assael values activist art making, transdisciplinary approaches, and embracing multiplicities and complexities.
Artist Statement
Drawn to traditions of storytelling and mythmaking, Assael creates colorful, tactile sculptures and prints that question long told truths while finding sentimentality and comfort in superstition and ritual. Through her artistic practice, she remembers personal, familial, political, religious, and cultural tales with playfulness and nostalgia. Assael see-saws between utilizing ephemeral and durable materials and focuses on layering as a way of creating form and narrative.
Joya Assael is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Richmond, VA. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, with a B.A. in Visual Studies, she worked in the commercial art world and as an educator in New York, NY. She then moved to Richmond, VA, to further explore her passion for art education. She is currently a student in the Masters of Art Education program in the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University.
In her art making and education work, Assael enjoys exploring play and superstition, ritual and comfort, and surrealism and the home. She loves to cook for friends, swim in rivers and oceans, walk around large cities and beautiful cemeteries, start projects and never finish them, and lay on the floor with her pet rabbit, Olafur. Assael values activist art making, transdisciplinary approaches, and embracing multiplicities and complexities.
Artist Statement
Drawn to traditions of storytelling and mythmaking, Assael creates colorful, tactile sculptures and prints that question long told truths while finding sentimentality and comfort in superstition and ritual. Through her artistic practice, she remembers personal, familial, political, religious, and cultural tales with playfulness and nostalgia. Assael see-saws between utilizing ephemeral and durable materials and focuses on layering as a way of creating form and narrative.
Contact
joya.assael@gmail.com
@joya.___
Joya Assael and Céline Anderson founded and run Everybody Wins!, a whimsical studio that makes and sells zines, prints, artful food, and more. Everybody Wins! can be found on Instagram and at local markets in Richmond, VA.
@everybodywins_studio
Assael sells work through Fruits & Adders, a home decor brand that playfully explores superstition and food traditions. Fruits & Adders can be found on Instagram, Etsy, and at local markets in Richmond, VA.
etsy.com/shop/FruitsAndAdders
@fruits_and_adders
Click here for Teaching Portfolio
joya.assael@gmail.com
@joya.___
Joya Assael and Céline Anderson founded and run Everybody Wins!, a whimsical studio that makes and sells zines, prints, artful food, and more. Everybody Wins! can be found on Instagram and at local markets in Richmond, VA.
@everybodywins_studio
Assael sells work through Fruits & Adders, a home decor brand that playfully explores superstition and food traditions. Fruits & Adders can be found on Instagram, Etsy, and at local markets in Richmond, VA.
etsy.com/shop/FruitsAndAdders
@fruits_and_adders
Click here for Teaching Portfolio