Joan Templer draws from her subconscious mind for subject matter when painting her abstracts. She does not purposely set out to paint anything specific. As the painting develops, she gets a clearer picture of the context. Then she will enhance it together with her concentration on the esthetics of what she is doing. The influences in her work come from natural phenomena, from her life experiences in Africa and America.

Growing up in South Africa, Joan Templer won the prestigious Oppenheimer painting award as well as a commission to create a large vitreous enamel mural for the international airport in Johannesburg. With her husband John and daughters Nicolette and Theresa, she moved to New York to study at Columbia University. The family eventuallly moved to Atlanta where Joan won the Atlanta mural competition, and became a professor at the College of Architecture at Georgia Tech, after winning many awards at art shows throughout the country, and getting glowing reviews from the critics at her New York exhibitions.

Retired and in Beaufort now, the ever changing light and beauty of the area have influenced Joan's paintings again. She has returned to the large textured abstracts she made in Africa but with the added technical interest and wealth of experience she had gathered from the challenge of teaching at Georgia Tech.

see more of Joan Templer's work