GeorgiaFlorida State University, MSWFlorida School of the Arts Joanna McNally is captivated by the beautiful chaos of our natural world which inspires her expressive landscapes and still life as well as her vibrant florals. Her work has been described as “dancing right up to the end of abstraction.” After receiving her master’s degree from Florida State University and raising her three children, she was awarded a full talent scholarship to study Technical Theater and Costuming at Florida School of the Arts. Designing tutus and tiaras as the Costume Director for the Florida Ballet gave way to her passion for painting. Joanna continues her studies through workshops all over the country and has studied with renown artists Patrick Saunders, Christopher Groves, Anne Blair Brown, Lori Putnam, Eric Jacobsen and many others. She especially enjoys camping and traveling as well as being at home with her husband in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I have been blessed enough (or crazy enough) to travel across this beautiful America several times. First, I was going to visit Grandma in a car tangled with the arms and legs of annoying siblings, later pulling a vintage camper on a painting adventure, or most recently, riding shotgun with my ever-tolerant husband steering us down country roads so I can lean out to take photos of this world swooping by. The details fade with the miles, but this is what I remember. I hope I always will! Windows down, thoughts akimbo in the wind, the deep cool secrets calling you into the woods, wildness of willowacks, comforting in their chaos; flowers shouting with unnamable color, the million greens, the thousand golds, the unending blues, all spilling inexplicably from the harshest of places attempting to beautify what is already beautiful; hills that swoop you up into the mountains. Edges softened by the intoxication of this rambling miraculous ordinary beauty. Sunsets begging you to stay a bit longer, riverbanks saving you a seat, big skies, humble houses, all telling you their stories, all offering you a new perspective, all for the taking, like a big breath of fresh air! I fear that we are losing this magical visceral experience as we attach ourselves to technology. I hope my work reminds you to take it all in and just breathe!