Jo Ann Callis


Jo Ann Callis is an American artist who works with photography and is based in California. Her work is held in various public collections.

Life and work

Callis was born in Ohio. Though she initially pursued a degree at Ohio State University in 1958, she dropped out in her second year when she got married. She and her husband moved to Southern California in 1961. Her father died after the birth of her first son Stephen in the same year. In 1963, her second son Michael was born. Callis enrolled at University of California, Los Angeles in 1970 initially in graphic design. When she took a course from Robert Heinecken in photography, she was encouraged by Heinecken to explore things within her mind.
In 1975, while still a student at UCLA, a year before finishing her Masters in Fine Arts, she was offered a position to work at California Institute of the Arts, where she works up until now.
Callis's work is primarily surrealist. Her themes have included domestic spaces and the role of motherhood, as demonstrated in Dish Trick.

Exhibitions

Callis' work is held in the following public collections: