ABOUT THE ARTIST

British-American portrait painter Jo Hay, was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK in 1964. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Middlesex University, 
London, UK and her Master of Arts, cum laude, from the New York Academy of Art, New York City, USA, in 2012.

Hay was the first recipient of the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant 2010 sponsored by the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. She is also the recipient of the New York Academy of Art Portrait Scholarship 2011. Her portrait from her Benders exhibition entitled Dodger was a semi-finalist in the BP Portrait Award 2015 at the National Gallery in London. Curated by Madonna, Hay was a finalist in Art For Freedom A Global Initiative. She was the main subject of She is Juiced a documentary film made by British director, writer and producer Lois Norman. It was screened at the Tate Modern Museum, London UK, in 2017 as part of the ground-breaking Queer Britain exhibition The film has since received outstanding reviews and awards including best documentary at both the New Renaissance Film Festival in Amsterdam and Brighton Rocks film festival in Brighton, UK.

In February 2022 Hay was selected as the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod’s inaugral Artist of the Year.

Hay’s solo exhibitions have been covered in numerous publications including The Boston Globe, The Cape Cod Times, Time Out NY, Art Ascent, Charlestown City Paper, Provincetown Arts Magazine, Bedford Magazine, New York Magazine and Artists of the South. She was listed in The Top 100 Figurative Painters 2018 by Didi Menendez, curator for BuzzFeed.

Hay currently lives and works in Provincetown, MA, USA