Jo Ferry's artistic practice is profoundly shaped by her upbringing on the Canadian prairies, extensive travels, and career as an energy healer and educator. Her early engagement with fibre arts, feminist perspective, and experience as a scenic artist in the film and television industry further inform her work.

Driven by a deep intuitive connection honed through years of energy practice, her art reflects her travels in North Africa and the Middle East and her commitment to equality. Ferry's diverse artistic repertoire spans abstraction, cityscapes, landscapes, portraits, and mixed media. She continually seeks new methods of expression, demonstrating versatility across genres.

Creating and destroying are integral to Jo’s artistic practice. In her earlier work, this duality manifested literally; often cutting up paintings and drawings, rearranging them into collages. These collages then inspired 2-D and 3-D relief paintings, constructed from found wood. In recent abstract works, this process plays a more sutble role, with multiple layers of paint and mixed media materials that both hide and reveal the histories of previous layers.

In her fibre work, she utilizes layers of textiles, raw wool, and stitchery. Engaging in drawing and fibre arts for many years before shifting her focus to painting, while attending Emily Carr in the 90s. She now finds her love for drawing, painting, mixed media, and fibre colliding in new and exciting ways.

Jo has always been intrigued by what defines craft versus fine art, and how these distinctions play out in our society, historically influencing gender roles.

BIO

EDUCATION

1981 Kootenay School of Art, Nelson BC, Applied Design Honours

1995 Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, graduated 4 year program

2004 Search program, Vancouver Arts Alliance

TEACHING

2005-2007 Mission Arts Centre, drawing and acrylic painting

2010 Creston & District Community Complex: drawing classes, acrylic painting classes, art journalling and children’s summer art camp

2012 ArtStart Adam Robertson Elementary School

ART RELATED WORK & MEDIA

1992 CBC Radio interview with Vicki Gabereau Talk Show, regarding Sanctuary Foundation Show, A benefit for victims of domestic violence

1994 Vancouver Sun, regarding Gallery Gachet Show

1994 Material & Form Distant Learning TV Program, assisted in production as a working artist

1996 - 2018 Scenic Painter /Artist; Film, TV , Murals and Music Videos

2011 - 2020 Facilitated Art with adults with mental disabilities

EXHIBITION HISTORY

2026 B1 Gallery, Vancouver BC Art Incognito Fundraiser

2025 West of Main Artwalk

2024 West of Main ArtWalk

2016 Art in the Chamber, Chamber of Commerce, Creston, BC

2011 Kingfisher Books, Creston BC

2005 Arts Alive Mission BC

2001 Bricolage, Vancouver BC

2001 Sidewinders Cafe, Nelson BC

2001 Eastside Cultural Crawl< Vancouver BC

1998 French Quarter Gallery, Vancouver BC

1998 Mural, Signature Vacations Lobby, Vancouver BC

1996 Quasi Bistro, Vancouver BC

1996 -1998 Octavia Gallery

1995 Stumble Mumbles Gallery

1995 Emily Carr Graduation Show

1994 AIDS Benefit Show Cafe Deux Soleil

1994 Fifth Annual Group Show, Roy and Lorraine Yabuki

1994 Gallery Gachet, Indubitable Sapwood Show

1992 Sanctuary Foundation Benefit Show, Hyatt Regency, Vancouver