“Since my time at The Mill at Shady Lea, I have primarily focused on pastels, using that medium in a painterly fashion, to achieve a more gestural appearance, and have started to use acrylic underpainting to create more depth. After spending almost 40 years in the woodworking profession, I feel fortunate I’ve been able to immerse myself into my two dimensional work.”

Joe joined the Shady Lea Mill artist community in 2017 to focus his career on two-dimensional artwork — specifically pastel, drawing, painting, and mixed media.

For the past four years, Joe has been developing a series of collages based on his interest in RI’s most famous cephalopod — the squid. Squid eyes, monoprints and pastels have become the focal point for this series. In addition to the Squid Series, Joe has created the CB Series where he takes a close up look at fried eggs.

Since COVID, staying close to home in Jamestown, RI, Joe is currently investigating and interpreting the everyday rocky shoreline of Narragansett Bay into pastel and acrylic drawings, using the unlimited resource of rockweeds, periwinkles, acorn barnacles, and lichens as inspiration for the NB Series.

Joe Yoffa graduated in 1979 with a BFA, Painting, from Southeastern Massachusetts University, North Dartmouth, MA.

He owned and operated Yoffa Woodworking in Newport, Rhode Island, 1984–2018, focusing on furniture, architectural millwork, and room interiors.