Jo Ann Callis (born 1940) is an American artist who works with photography and is based in California. Her work is held in various public collections.

Life and work

Callis was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Though she initially pursued a degree at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 1958, she dropped out in her second year when she got married. She and her husband moved to Southern California in 1961. Her father died after the birth of her first son, Stephen, in the same year. In 1963, her second son Michael was born. Callis enrolled at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA) in 1970 initially in graphic design. When she took a course from Robert Heinecken in photography, she was encouraged by Heinecken to explore things within her mind. In 1975, while still a student at UCLA, a year before finishing her Masters in Fine Arts, she was offered a position to work at

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

, where she works as of 2017. Callis's work is primarily

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

. Her themes have included domestic spaces and the role of motherhood, as demonstrated in ''Dish Trick'' (1985).

Exhibitions

* ''Woman Twirling'',

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood, Los Angeles, Brentwood neighborhood ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, 2009

Publications

*''Woman Twirling.'' Los Angeles, CA:

, 2009. Text by Judith Keller. *''Decor.'' Thistle & Weed, 2013. Essay by Jennifer A. Watts. *''Other Rooms.'' New York:

Aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

, 2014. .

Collections

Callis' work is held in the following public collections: *

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York. *

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

, Los Angeles. *

, Los Angeles.

References

External links

*
Rose Gallery: Jo Ann Callis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Callis, Jo Ann 1940 births Living people Artists from Cincinnati California Institute of the Arts faculty Photographers from California UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni Ohio State University alumni 20th-century American women photographers 20th-century American photographers American women academics 21st-century American women