was raised amidst the scenic seas and hills of La Union, honing her artistry at an early age together with her siblings and cousins. She took up Bachelor of Fine Arts at the College of the Holy Spirit, Manila and graduated with Honors. In 1999, she graduated with a Master’s degree in Family Mediation together with her husband, Emmanuel Gacayan in Scuola Loreto, Loppiano, Florence, Italy. She always loved painting with oils and pastels but eventually became inclined to watercolor. Joanne highly appreciates watercolor’s transparency as a medium and intuitively, as your state of emotion. It responds to each motion and sentiment you bring on an empty paper. For Joanne, as much as watercolor demands one’s mindfulness in each brushstroke, it correlates to a lesson of being present in each moment as life challenges us each day. It teaches the discipline of the NOW. Joanne is a member of the Artists Guild of La Union (AGLAUN) and is the incumbent VP for Local Experiences of the Philippine Guild of Watercolorists.
