Background
Duesberry, Joellyn Toler was born on June 30, 1944 in Richmond, Virginia, United States. Daughter of Arthur Reginald and Joellyn Dean (Toler) Duesberry.
Duesberry, Joellyn Toler was born on June 30, 1944 in Richmond, Virginia, United States. Daughter of Arthur Reginald and Joellyn Dean (Toler) Duesberry.
Student, University Virginia, 1964. Bachelor with distinction, Smith College, 1966. Master of Arts, New York University, 1967.
Postgraduate, Dartmouth College, 1968.
She divides her time between Millbrook, New York and Denver, Colorado. She says that her paintings echo the work of John Marin and Milton Avery. Of her art, Duesberry says, "I am not interested in a realist painting, I am not interested in an abstract painting.
I am interested in the tension."
Growing up in rural Virginia instilled in her a love for the land.
She said, "All my life I think I"ve unconsciously tried to re-create the place where bliss or terror first came to medical Both emotions seemed so strong that I had to locate them outside of myself, in the land.
This goes back to a childhood habit--of living in rural Virginia and seeking woods and creeks and lakes for solitary refuge. Places where I could sketch and paint." She decided to start painting at age ten, and soon thereafter she decided that "Women artists existed and she needed to be among them."
She received a Bachelor with Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, in art history and painting, from Smith College in 1966.
In that year she was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship.
She took her master"s degree at New York University Institute of Fine Arts.
Member Phi Beta Kappa.
Married Doctor Ira Kowal. Stepchildren: Rebekah, Jessica.