Artist: JoAnn Cruz

JoAnn Cruz is originally from Puerto Rico.  She became a resident at HomeFront's Family Preservation Center in January 2012. While there she sketched a picture of a palm tree and soon found herself in ArtSpace creating a large scale painting of the sketch.

 Since she was very young,  JoAnn has always loved doodling and sketching.  She remembers sketching wedding dresses and adding small details to them, and “dreaming….. and dreaming she would one day wear one”  JoAnn’s paintings allow her to escape from reality, and also bring her comfort and make her think of her upbringing in Puerto Rico.  JoAnn's inspiration comes from images drawn from her fond memories of Puerto Rico.

ArtSpace has become an important place for her, because it has allowed JoAnn to let out emotions (like anger) and slowly inspired her to express her feelings.   Since painting her first set of palm trees she has continued to create wonderful colorful images of Puerto Rico.

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