Lifelong Artist

JoAnn Adinolfi was born and raised in New York City, a happy member of a big Italian-American family. Her favorite place to explore as a child was her Pop's garden. Under the peach tree grew a bathtub; next to the chicken coupe, a pile of porcelain sinks took root. The grapevine trellis was constructed with a network or rusty pipes that supported the weight of lush purple grapes while hundreds of leaves merged to form a cool umbrella. JoAnn played amidst this collage of nature and objects. As an artist, she calls upon the interplay of those surroundings to guide her to surprising artistic representations of our complex, beautiful world.

She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology 1983-1987 and the Art Academy of Munich 1983-1987. JoAnn is an award winning picture book creator and has written and illustrated over 40 books for children. She now writes and illustrates under the pen name Josie James. She is also an award winning fine artist. JoAnn likes to explore various mediums and creates collages, paintings as well as digital collages and paintings for art shows and galleries.

In the spring and summer, JoAnn works as a floral designer with Illume Floral, and supplies greens and flowers to floral designers through her budding business Wild Greens in New Hampshire. She loves to dance, play the drums, travel, and happily cooks the recipes or her ancestors for family and friends. She speaks fluent German and a bit of Italian. JoAnn has two beautiful children and a very silly dog named Enzo.