Bio


JoAnne Hook was born in Victoria, Australia. The eldest of five, she grew up in a small county town with little financial backing or encouragement towards a career in art. In those days an artist was thought of as one who lived on the poverty line in an attic somewhere in a big city. Despite this she began drawing and winning prizes in the local art competitions, and knew that she would want to continue it somehow.

A teaching career was an option, and she managed to win a small scholarship to get through high school, then a teaching bursary to help through Art College. She soon realised however, that teaching was not for her, and she found work in a graphic design studio in Melbourne.

From here she learnt the fine points of design and a disciplined work ethic. In her spare time she experimented in developing her own style of painting and held a few small mildly successful exhibitions. After working in different art studios and advertising agencies in Melbourne, JoAnne began to travel. She spent time in England and Europe producing soft pastel drawings of the English countryside to pay her way. She then returned to Australia and based herself in Sydney where work in illustration was her goal. For two years she had a successful career working on major magazines and publications, illustrating short stories and childrens' books, as well as advertising art. Through it all she wanted to work towards her own "style", and finally decided to leave the commercial and frantic world of advertising and to take a year off and see what she could develop on her own.

In 1979 she left Sydney for the peace and tranquillity of a country home in Far North Queensland. Here she had a plentiful supply of subject matter, and experimented, using or discarding what she had learnt in her 10 - 15 years of artistic experience.

Soon a style of her own developed, based on her love of colour, pattern and design. Combined with her love of composition, and the inspiration of the lush surrounds of Reef and Rainforest, her own unique style was born.

Her original paintings in acrylics and gouache on handmade linen paper were soon in great demand. She had a number of sell-out exhibitions and soon realised she could not keep up with demand. This prompted her to produce high quality limited edition prints, which made it more accessible to collectors of her art.

Through the ensuing years Jo Anne's work has won numerous prizes and awards. She has received commissions from various international hotels, Australian Airlines, and international companies, such as IBM Japan.

Her own exclusive gallery was opened in Cairns in 1988, with others following at the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, and overseas. The Galleries operated at varying times for a period of sixteen years.

Throughout that time, JoAnne made many visits to Japan, often two and three times per year, for exhibitions and signing appearances.

In 2006, she found a new home in France, and has been painting larger works on canvas, based on her travels in Europe. Some of her favourites are to be published as exclusive original print editions of excellent quality.

JoAnne now spends her time divided between Australia and her home in the South of France, with studios in both places.

Contact JoAnne


If you would like to contact Jo Anne regarding her work, you can do so through her office email below.

Phone: +61 7 5532 2736
Fax: +61 7 5591 3445
info@joannehook.com

JAPAN - AGENT - ARK CORPORATION
Chiekohin-nishiiru,
Shimodachiuridori,
Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto,
602-8176 JAPAN.

PH: 075-821-7200
FAX: 075-821-6464
EMAIL infoark@kk-ark.jp
URL: www.kk-ark.jp

Definitions & Care of Prints


Often when purchasing a work of art of a print, buyers are not sure of the difference between the various printing techniques and terms used, so here is a brief description.

Original Painting

Is where the artist has produced an original interpretation of a particular subject and created a 'one off' work of art using certain media.

Original Print / Serigraph

This is where an artist / master printer has produced a print (usually from an original painting) 'by hand', using a stencil process.

Colour or inks are applied to a screen where cutout sections of specially treated paper or plastic are positioned to produce the desired pattern or design. All sections except those of the colour being applied are masked out. To produce a detailed print (as with Jo Anne's work) is highly labour intensive, as up to 120 different screens have to be used to create a close representation of the original.

Digital Print (Mistographs, Giclees)

This is the most recent method devised for producing fine quality prints of original artworks. The art piece is scanned at a high resolution, either directly or from a transparency, then processed via computer, and transfered to paper or canvas on an eight-colour process inkjet printer.

This method creates a huge variety of colour combinations, providing the closest possible match to the original painting, and without any mechanical 'pattern', as in normal 'lithographic' printing.

Also, as each print is produced individually, the artist can restrict edition numbers to a very small amount, from just one copy, to 5 or 10,or to an edition of a hundred or more.

Lithographic

Put simply, the original painting is photographed, split into the 3 primary colours (red, yellow and blue) plus black, by the fine screen of tiny dots. These 4-colour 'separations' are then printed onto paper using an offset lithography press, and combine to produce a reproduction of the original painting.

You can always tell a reproduction from an original print by using a magnifying glass and if you see a dot pattern, it is a reproduction.

Reproductions can vary in quality, depending on the skills of the colour separators and printers used. Most of Jo Anne Hook's prints have extra colours added to bring them as close as possible to the vibrancy and depth of her original painting.

Limited Editions

A term used when any print run (original or mechanical) is limited to a certain number. Every print is personally checked, numbered and signed by the artist to ensure quality control, faithful reproduction of the original, and authenticity (or guarantee), that the edition is limited to the number of prints to an edition being 'artist's proofs' and 'printer's proofs', which are usually limited to no more than 10% of the edition size.) Because of their limited numbers, edition prints can become more valuable over a period of time, depending on their popularity and availability.

Posters & Cards

These are lithographic reproductions, not limited in numbers and will not necessarily increase in value.

Care of Prints


In all of the limited edition prints, posters, and even cards, the greatest care and attention has been taken to ensure the highest standards possible.

Serigraphs are printed on best quality archival paper with non-fade inks. All reproductions prints shown are printed on archival quality coasted paper and, through the latest developments in technology, are now printed with fade-resistant inks.

To give your prints or works of art the best chance of avoiding the ravages of time, mould, humidity and temperature changes and ensure that you frame them using the best quality conservation framing standards.

Hang your valued prints and artwork in safe locations, avoiding damp walls or high temperature changes (external walls). Any work of art should not be hung in direct sunlight, over a fireplace, or in a bathroom, if you wish to keep it in good condition.

When hanging prints or artwork in very bright areas which receive a great amount of sunlight, use UV glass. If treated with due care and attention and framed suitably, even a small greeting card can stay in near mint condition - valued and enjoyed many years from now.