About
Joy Christiansen Erb is a contemporary photographer and artist whose creative research explores themes such as memory, identity, and storytelling. Her most recent body of work explores the subjects of motherhood and family. This autobiographical journey examines the lives of her family and her domestic space. The images included in the series document both the struggles and triumphs of parenthood.
Her photography has gained recognition through regional and national exhibitions and lectures as well as a 2015 Ohio Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. Recent solo exhibition venues include the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, the Center for Emerging Visual Artists in Philadelphia, the Peoria Arts Guild, and the Galveston Arts Center. Recent group exhibitions include the Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, OR, the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA, the Center for Photography at Woodstock, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. Her artwork has also been highlighted in a variety of publications, including two notable textbooks.
Christiansen Erb currently resides in Youngstown, Ohio, where she serves as Acting Chair of the Department of Art at Youngstown State University. In 2016, she received a Distinguished Professorship for Excellence in Scholarship award from YSU. Christiansen Erb received her B.F.A. from Miami University in Oxford, OH in 2001 and her M.F.A. from Texas Woman’s University in 2005.
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