Joy Brown (b. 1951, St. Louis) is an American sculptor and ceramicist whose work reflects over five decades of mastery rooted in traditional East-West aesthetics. Raised in Japan and trained in rigorous apprenticeships with master potters in Tamba and Wakayama, Brown’s artistic practice blends the discipline of Japanese wood-fired ceramics with contemporary sculptural forms.International Public Exhibitions and Installations — Brown’s monumental bronze and ceramic works have been exhibited in public spaces across the United States, China, and Europe, including large-scale installations such as Joy Brown on Broadway in New York City.Featured in Museum and Institutional Collections — Her work is held in major public collections such as the Mattatuck Museum (CT), Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT, Canadian Academy in Kobe, and Jing’An International Sculpture Park in Shanghai, Horokan Museum, Amami Japan.Documentary Recognition — Her creative process and artistic vision are the subject of One World: The Art of Joy Brown, a feature documentary that has premiered at the Mystic Film Festival, capturing her lifelong dedication and global impact.Nonprofit Leadership — In 1998, she co-founded Still Mountain Center, a nonprofit organization that fosters artistic exchange between Eastern and Western traditions, emphasizing community and collaboration. The figures speak to a peaceful place within me—calm, open, and aware.My work reflects the influence of my childhood in Japan and the rigorous discipline of my apprenticeship in traditional Japanese wood-fired ceramics. Working with clay and firing with wood became a way of life, shaping an aesthetic that continues to guide both my practice and my life.For more than forty years, clay has challenged and sustained me, enriching and transforming my life through continual exploration. The work has evolved from vessels and animal forms to the human-like figures and abstract wall reliefs of recent years. This evolution has grown out of my ongoing relationship with material and process—the clay, the kiln, the firing—and from my changing intentions. Over the past twenty years, bronze has also become an important part of my practice, most recently in China, where I have created larger-than-life figures for public spaces.Whether in ceramic or bronze, pots or sculpture, the forms I create are tangible expressions of an evolving inner life. There is beauty and quiet strength in their simplicity.I work in Kent, CT where I built my studio and 30-foot long Japanese style wood-firing tunnel kiln (anagama).