Joanne Stead

Joanne Stead is a self-taught visual artist based in Tamworth, NSW. Working across acrylic, papier-mâché, linocut and found objects, Joanne draws on personal experience, current events and storytelling to create distinctive works grounded in a strong sense of place.

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Her recent work has explored climate change, sustainability, threatened species, habitat loss and landscape regeneration, often drawing on the natural environment and stories of the New England North West.

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Joanne is a founding member of the Tamworth Regional Art Collective and Wandering Art Collective and has extensive experience developing and coordinating collaborative exhibitions and public art projects. Since 2022, she has been the principal organiser and exhibition project manager for two large-scale travelling exhibitions involving artists from across the region. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across NSW and Queensland.

My art begins with my connection to place, the creatures I encounter, the stories I hear, and the changes taking place around me. I am interested in the small, everyday moments that connect us to a particular place, and in the larger stories that sit behind them.

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Living and working in regional NSW gives me a strong sense of place, but also a strong sense of connection. I am passionate about the networks that exist between regional artists and about creating opportunities for those connections to grow. I love a group project: bringing artists out of their individual studios, sharing ideas and skills, and seeing what happens when different practices, perspectives and personalities come together.

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Storytelling is central to my practice, whether I am responding to a landscape, a local species, a personal experience or something I have observed in the world around me. I am drawn to the tension between what is fragile and what is resilient: the things we are at risk of losing, but also the possibility of recovery and renewal. I want my work, and the creative communities I help build around it, to invite curiosity, connection and a closer look at the world we share.