Steve Joyce is  based in Suffolk.

Steve Joyce is an artist and lecturer working a portfolio career in the creative industries, and distributes his time between personal art practice, commissions, teaching and gallery work.

He is a multi-media artist who produces a multifaceted array of works, reflecting diverse interests, thinking and observations.  Working mainly within painting, drawing, printmaking, and collage he produces individual pieces and also installations.  The materials and techniques vary, but he frequently incorporates the use of appropriated images and materials.  The work mostly explores the discrepancies between real objects or experiences, images, and expected interpretations. 

As an artist he works independently and also works collaboratively on projects with other artists. These projects include site-specific work and other exhibition projects some of which are included in the projects section.

Since completing his Masters Degree at the Colchester Institute he has been developing his art practice and has recently undertaken artist's residencies at the University of Suffolk and at Asylum Studios.  His background includes working in artist run galleries and gallery education roles, which began while studying for his BA Fine Art Degree at Norwich University of the Arts, leading on to fulltime lecturing work in further education.  He still teaches part-time though his focus is now on practicing as an artist.  Over the years he has also worked as a picture frame maker, lived in Canada for while and before that he was a self-employed designer-maker working in interior design and construction.

Statement

I am an artist who makes pictures often using cutting and collage techniques to make collages, paintings, drawings and prints.  I appropriate found images, obscuring or allegorising the original significations to create work that will divert or suspend closure.  In a technological world where we are inundated with images, I seek to impede that deluge and prolong that moment of uncertainty and openness, giving time to reconsider significations and notice different associations and meanings.

My current work questions the nature of things, images and experiences; the significance, the meaning, connotations and expectations.  I am interested in the unreliability or inconsistency of images and meaning, and seek to create work that either confirms or contradicts its form or appearance.  I look for strands of discontinuity in found images and reinvent them.  Generally the focus is on the everyday and how we might or might not expect to find things.  I am always looking for a new ways to re-present the obvious, the ubiquitous, the curious or the mundane.

Much of my research follows an interest in language structure as I have a fascination for the way signification occurs, though I am not primarily interested in fixed meanings.  This interest lies mainly in creating plausible images that might divert or distract closure, prolonging a moment of hesitation in reading the work and activating the role of the viewer.  Drawing has always continued to be a facet of my practice which both grounds and informs onging project development, but recently the role of drawing has has expanded and is now used in different ways.  Currently, I am in the process of returning to painting where new approaches are emerging and ideas for new projects are forming.

Exhibitions

2020 Out of the Ordinary, solo exhibition, 142 Hamilton Road artsapce, Felixstowe

2019 4th Mini Print Touring exhibition, at Artspace, Woodbridge

2019 Seasons, group exhibition at The Frame Workshop & Gallery, Ipswich

2018 Mini Print Touring Exhibition, Garage Gallery, Aldeburgh and other venues

2018 Art At The Alter, Group show, Ipswich Tourist Information Centre

2018 Not only but also, Solo Exhibition, SubArts, Ipswich

2018 Out of the Ordinary, Solo Exhibition, Asylum Studios, Rendlesham, Suffolk

2017 Winter Exhibition, The Frame Workshop & Gallery, Ipswich

2017 Jazz Art Exhibition, Subterranean Arts Gallery, Ipswich

2017 Ipswich Open Exhibition, IAS, Ipswich Art School Gallery, Ipswich

2017 Simulacrum, Solo Exhibition, The Waterfront Gallery, University Of Suffolk, Ipswich

2016 Open Call Exhibition, Ipswich Art School Gallery, Ipswich

2016 Open Exhibition, CAS, The Minories, Colchester

2016 Discarded Made Beautiful 2 Exhibition, The Frame Workshop & Gallery, Ipswich

2016 Open exhibition, The Sentinel Gallery, Wivenhoe, Essex

2016 Open Exhibition, IAS, The Waterfront Foyer, UCS, Ipswich

2015 Smiths Row Open, Bury St Edmonds

2015 Art for Business, group exhibition at Kerseys Solicitors, Ipswich

2014 Gatherings, Group Show, Freudian Sheep Gallery, Ipswich

2014 Secrets, Postmasters Group Exhibition, The Minories, Colchester

2014 Creative Colony, Broomfield Road, Chelmsford

2013 Art Ahoy! 2013, The Foyer, UCS Waterfront Building, Neptune Quay, Ipswich

2013 Four Artists, group show at The Frame Workshop & Gallery, Ipswich

2013 Suffolk Showcase, Smiths Row, Bury St. Edmonds

2013 Atrium 2013, The Foyer, UCS Waterfront Building, Neptune Quay, Ipswich

2012 Masters at the Minories, The Minories Art Gallery, Colchester

2011 Precursor, Firstsite, Colchester

2011 Suffolk Showcase, Smiths Row, Bury St. Edmonds

2011 Discarded Made Beautiful, exhibition at The Frame Workshop & Gallery, Ipswich

2010 Prime, Benham Gallery, Cuckoo Farm Studios, Colchester

2010 Arts Trail, Rivermead Gallery, APU, Chelmsford

2009 Shelf Life, open exhibition, Key Arts, Ipswich

2007 He Opened His Eyes - collaborative book project

2007 Play, St Marys-at-the-Quay, Ipswich

2007 Triptych, Open Exhibition, KeyArts, st. Mary's-at-the-Quay, Ipswich

2007 Open Show, Eyestorm, Ipswich

2007 Art of The Book, Wolsey Gallery, Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich

2006 Boxroom, KeyArts, Ipswich

2004 Simply Red, Open Show, Reunion Gallery, Felixstowe, Suffolk

2004 Open Gallery, Group Show, Frame Workshop & Gallery, Ipswich

2004 Blankpage exhibition, Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich

2004 Inspired by Landscape, John Stevens Fine Art, Hadleigh

2003 Our Town, open show, Wolsey Art Gallery, Ipswich

2003 A Construct of Time, Ancient House Gallery Space, Ipswich

2001 Figure, selected group show, Suffolk ACRE, Ipswich

2000 Suffolk Open Studios & Exhibitions, Wlosey Theatre, Ipswich, Suffolk

2000 Invited Artists Exhibition, Gissing Arts, Norfolk

2000 Topcroft Festival of Arts, Sculpture trail, Topcroft, Norfolk

1999 Annual Exhibition, Drayton Valley, Alberta Canada

1997 New Light on Landscape, group exhibition, Advice Arcade Gallery, Norwich

1996 Open Exhibition, Halesworth Gallery, Norfolk

1996 Conversations, Contact Gallery, Norwich

1996 Open Opportunity, Open Show, Advice Arcade Gallery, Norwich, Norfolk

1995 Mapping the Margins, Brewhouse Gallery, Taunton, Devon

1995 Graduation, Selected exhibition, King of Hearts Gallery, Norwich

1995 New Beginnings, group exhibition, St Margaret's Church, Norwich

1995 A Jolly Good Show, BA Degree show, Norwich School of Art & Design

Projects & Collaborations

2011       Precursor, Firstsite, Colchester

2010-11  Discarded Made Beautiful - collaborative exhibition project

2006-10  Play Project - group collaboration working on response to the object

2007       He Opened His Eyes - collaborative book project

2003-4    Blankpage - collaborative book project

2003       A Construct of Time - site-specific collaboration project

Qualifications and Training

2012 MA Contemporary Art & Profession Practice, Colchester Institute, Colchester

2011 QTLS, Registered Teacher Status, IFL

2008 Layouts with Indesign, short course, Central St. Martins, London

2007 Experimental Printmaking, short course, Central St. Martins, London

1999 PGCE, City College Norwich

1995 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Norwich School of Art & Design, Norwich