Making art and making a living are often hard to reconcile, but for Asheville artist Joanne Bossert, a long-gestating desire to turn full time to art arrived when she retired several years ago. “I did plan to work in the arts,” Bossert says of her early post-college years after earning an art degree, “but I also had a degree in mathematics, which at that time included computer-programming courses. So when it came time to earn money, that was where the opportunities were.”
But even with a satisfying career in IT, Bossert never completely abandoned her creative attachments. She managed to fit in courses here and there at John C. Campbell Folk Art School, hobnob with working artists at their studios, and even, for a time, make and sell through catalogs a line of handworked quilts, struggling to keep up with demand in the face of work and family responsibilities — which meant “staying up late to finish something,” she recalls.
Former IT exec Joanne Bossert can fire metal sculptures with her blowtorch or weave soft fibers together. Portrait by Rachel Pressley
When the work pressures disappeared, Bossert could finally turn to a medium that had fascinated her since high school. “I had a friend whose mother was an enamel artist,” Bossert remembers. “She was incredibly talented and very supportive, and I don’t know that I would have earned an art degree or pursued art without her encouragement.” Today, Bossert produces a growing collection of unique constructed pieces that include enameled copper forms derived from nature coupled with found objects — pots and pans, kitchenware, even a wood-burning stove — combined in an often whimsical dialogue. A chicken perches on top of an eggbeater and a baking pan in which two metal fried eggs reside; a folk-art metal sun smiles down on a reclining human figure surrounded by colorfully rendered metal bushes and shrubbery.
“The metal pieces start with something that someone gives me or that I find randomly,” Bossert explains. “I just look for something that resonates with me, and the concept of the project comes from that. The sculptural metal work is all thin copper that I form, and then use torch firing to enamel.” To hone these skills, she studied with leaders in the field such as San Diego-based enamelist Steve Artz and metal jewelers including Una Barrett and (locally) Molly Sharp.
Weaving is also part of Bossert’s artistic repertoire: namely a line of handwoven purses made from a varied mix of linen, cotton, wool, and silk. “The enjoyable part of the weaving is the mixing of yarns and colors,” she says. Bossert also paints in acrylic or watercolor, and draws in pen and ink; and there’s the quilting, too — still part of her art armamentarium.
“I pretty much get an idea that I want to pursue and figure out what I need to do,” she says. “Retirement has been really great — l’m really enjoying this time of life.”
Joanne Bossert, North Asheville. Bossert will participate in the 6th Annual Beaverdam Studio Tour (54 Clubside Drive) happening Saturday, Oct. 28, and Sunday, Oct. 29. For a map, full list of participating artists, and more information, see beaverdamstudiotour.com and on Instagram.