Joan Bitzer

"[I try] to convey the elements, such as wind and rain, through color in the mood of the subject, whether it be a weather-beaten barn or a stormy sea coast."
-Joan Bitzer

Painter Joan Bitzer was born in New York and then moved to Virginia as a teenager. There she finished high school and began attending William and Mary College. She moved to the Bucks County area attending Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and receiving her B.F.A. at the University of Pennsylvania. Bitzer has taught at many public schools in the Bucks County area and was the director of the Fine Arts Program at the Central Bucks YMCA, where she also taught classes.

Bitzer’s artwork illustrates nature through the medium of watercolor. She has collections in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland and has exhibited in Richmond, Chicago, and Los Angeles, with a collection piece in Whiskey Painters of America at ArtPro in Boston. In the Bucks County area, she has exhibited in the Phillips' Mill Annual Exhibition in New Hope and Mixed Media in Doylestown. She is associated with the Philadelphia Watercolor Society and the Doylestown Art League.

Connections to Bucks County
Joan Bitzer has lived in the Bucks County area since college. Among many juried shows and exhibitions in Bucks County, she has taught at public schools and other associations including the Central Bucks YMCA.

Education
B.F.A., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
William and Mary College, Williamsburg, VA
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Cochran Art School, Washington, D.C.

Teachers and Influences
Howard Watson, John Pike, Roy Nuse, Edward Whitney

Affiliations and Memberships
Doylestown Art League
Old York Road Art Guild
Philadelphia Watercolor Society

Exhibitions
Stover Mill Gallery, Erwinna, PA
Phillips' Mill, New Hope, PA
Tinicum Art Festival, Erwinna, PA
Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Delaware Valley University, Doylestown, PA
Arts Center, Doylestown, PA
Allerbescht Gallery, Telford, PA
Warminster Free Library, Warminster, PA
William Penn Memorial Museum, Harrisburg, PA
Mixed Media, Doylestown, PA

Major Awards
Doylestown Art League Juried Show, Watercolor
Phillips' Mill
Solebury Historical Society, Watercolor
Tinicum Arts Festival

Teaching and Professional Appointments
Central Bucks YMCA (Director of Fine Arts Program)
Schools in Bucks County, including Willow Dale Elementary