About Joy Kreves

My earliest memory is of sitting on the floor drawing.  I discovered the immense power of art when I was quite young;  I drew a red horse.  My older sister insisted that “you can’t draw a red horse because horses aren’t red”, but since I had already drawn it, I realized that you CAN create anything you want in art.  I was hooked. 

I attended Illinois State University for my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, then moved to New York City, where I exhibited for 8 years in many underground exhibitions.  After that I operated a studio/gallery in Frenchtown, NJ for several years and have lived and worked in Ewing, NJ since closing that in 1990.  I have widely exhibited in solo, juried, and invitational exhibitions in the tri-state area including The Ellarslie Museum, The Hunterdon Art Museum, The Gallery at MCCC, The Monmouth Museum, Grounds For Sculpture, The Freyberger Gallery at Penn State, and Rider University Art Gallery.   

I am a member of Trenton Artists Workshop, Ewing Arts, New Hope Arts, and ROOTS Artist Alliance as well as DVP/US1 Poets.   

I have been a featured speaker at the Monroe Art Series and the Hopewell Arts Council’s Arts Connect series.  One of my sculptures appeared on the cover of the next COOL WOMEN POETS ANTHOLOGY and another will be on the cover of WORKSHEETS 2023 Anthology.  I often write poems which accompany my visual artwork, and this year’s DVP/US1 Worksheets anthology includes one of my poems.  I have several artworks in the permanent collection of Rider University.  I currently work from a studio at my home. 

My work is created in mixed media such as fabric, recycled items and photography, and is inspired by nature, language, and earth literacy. 

Artist Statement

Prophesy Rocks, my interactive sculpture series, is an imagining of rocks from our near future.  With all of the chaos, environmental pollution, and climate change, these “double life” rocks reflect the coming reality which humans have created.  This is a reality in flux, in which one can never really know the full truth and there is no agreement on what truth is.  These are the rocks of our polluted and chaotic time. Already on our earth there can be found what are termed “plastiglomerate rocks”. These are hard lumps composed of melted plastics and natural debris.  My “Prophesy Rocks” are faux-plastiglomerate rocks.  If aged outside they might someday become real ones. 

I have used invisible paints that only react to UV light to reveal imagery, and other UV-reactive paints to enhance the vibrance of color areas and boundary lines. When viewed under normal lighting the imagery and some of the lines do not show, but viewed with the aid of a UV flashlight, imagery or colors intensify to the point where they actually radiate their own light.  In deep darkness the rock sculptures themselves become invisible and these effects become greatly exaggerated so that the images, lines and colors appear to exist as disembodied elements. Therefore, these sculptures can be exhibited in any variety of lighting conditions, and their appearance changes in each.  UV bar lights, spot lightbulbs and flashlights can be used to create effects or to enable a viewer-interactive experience at the discretion of the curator. 

Wesbite: www.joykreves.com

Selected One-Person Exhibitions

2024.  GNI Galleries.  “FIERCE CARYATIDS”, solo exhibition, Pennington, NJ. 

2017-2024. Exhibiting Artist in studio in THE HOPEWELL TOUR DES ARTS., Hopewell, NJ. 

2017.  WEST WINDSOR ARTS CENTER, “CRAVING NATURE – The Feast”, West Windsor, NJ. 

2015.  A SPACE ON MAIN GALLERY, “Homage & Requiem”, Cranbury, NJ. 

           THE TULPEHAKING NATURE CENTER GALLERIES, “The Absorbed Landscape”, Hamilton, NJ. 

2014.  SMALL WORLD COFFEE, “Portraits of the Inner Tree”, Invitational, Princeton, NJ.  

2010.  RIDER UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY, “Translating Nature”, Lawrenceville, NJ. 

2009.  RIVER’S EDGE GALLERY, “Digging Dandelions”, UBE, PA. 

2008.  THE ERDMAN GALLERY, “Sacred Sublime”, Princeton, NJ.  

2006.  SILVA GALLERY at The Pennington School, “From Mind & Matter”, Pennington, NJ. 

2006.  THE CORRIDOR GALLERY, “Circle Dances – Drawings in Ink and Clay”, NYC, NY. 

2002.  ELLARSLIE MUSEUM. “TAWA Invitational ’02”, Trenton, NJ. also1999:  “TAWA Invitational‘99” 

2000.  ABC GALLERY, “Life Lines, Paintings by Joy Kreves”, Lambertville, NJ. 

1999.  PEBBLE HILL GALLERY, “Energies”, Doylestown, Pa.   

1984.  134 BROADWAY, “Works by Joy Kreves”, Brooklyn, NY.                                                     (cont…) 

(…cont.) 

1981.  WINDOWS ON WHITE STREET, “Primary Colors”, New York City, N.Y. 

1976.  CVA GALLERY, Ill. State U. “Several Things & One Dozen Myths”, Normal, Ill. 

Selected Catalog Publications

  • FIERCE CARYATIDS, 2024, Solo exhibition catalog. 
  • UN – STIFLED, THE 2ND ARTIST MELT, 2023, Suburban Frontier Gallery exhibition catalog. 
  • TRANSFORMATIONS, 2019, Princeton Artists Alliance Exhibition at ETS catalog.                
  • CRAVING NATURE – The Feast, an art menu book from the FEAST Installation. 
  • THE ABSORBED LANDSCAPE, Solo exhibition catalog. 
  • RIVER AND BIOTA, 2014, group exhibition catalog. 
  • CRAVING NATURE INSTALLATION by Joy Kreves, catalog. 
  • TRANSLATING NATURE:  RECENT WORKS BY JOY KREVES, Rider U. Gallery catalog. 
  • SACRED SUBLIME, 2008.  Princeton Theological Seminary Gallery, Solo Exhibition catalog. 
  • CIRCLE DANCES — Drawings in Ink and Clay. 2006.  Solo Exhibition catalog. 
  • TAWA @ 25, 2004, Exhibition catalog, photo, statement. 
  • THE PARIS REVIEW, vol. 140, photos. 
  • WOMEN PRINTMAKERS, 3/91, exhibition catalog, by F. Quintanella.