Mica Joy is a painter who primarily works in oil paint and gouache. She likes to incorporate the use of collage and technology into her technical process to build her concepts and draw out found patterns. It is her fascination with line and color that has developed her vivid, intricately detailed style that she wishes will stir up emotions of pure joy.

She grew up as a southern young lady in rural North Carolina.   She is a proud 2004 alumni from The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, North Carolina.  She graduated high school with the intentions of pursuing a career in electrical engineering but credits art her professor at NCSSM for reminding her of her artistic passions which eventually led to a career backflip in art.  She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with her BA in Studio Art in December 2016.  She currently resides and works in Warsaw and Wilmington, North Carolina.

In April 2018 she attended a one month artist residency at the Julia and David White Artist Colony in Costa Rica.  This residency was partially funded by a 2017-18 Regional Artist Project Grant of $1,000 that she was awarded from the Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge.  Her work from this residency will be displayed in a solo exhibition in November 2018 at the Jacksonville-Onslow Arts Council Gallery.  She was also awarded a grant from the Jacksonville-Onslow Arts Council for their “Jacksonville Downtown Mural Program” and is currently painting a mural in downtown Jacksonville, North Carolina on the Youth Council Building to honor the World War I Veterans.  ***Expected to be completed in June 2018.

In November 2016, during her senior year at UNCW, she was awarded a scholarship solo exhibition at the Ann Flack Boseman Gallery at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.  In August 2017 she had a solo exhibition for Lost in Wonderland with the Sampson County Arts Council at the Victor R. Small House in Clinton, North Carolina. She was also featured in 7 group exhibitions in 2016 and 2017 including one at Going Local Artesian Gifts where she received the People Choice Award, one juried exhibition at the Onslow-Jacksonville Council for the Arts and one juried photography exhibition at the Sampson County Arts Council.

She is also represented by the Onslow-Jacksonville Council for the Arts and some of her work is available through their gallery.

Website: Micajoy.com

Email: artistANDcook@gmail.com