Joe E. Sanders is a visual artist and Professor of Art living in Georgia, USA. His work explores the intersections of art, natural history, science, environment, and memory. As the fields of printmaking and book arts evolve, Sanders expresses himself through wide ranging investigation in print, artist’s books, papermaking, non-silver photography, and installation.

Joe Sanders’ creative research and special projects have been supported by over 100K in grants either as principal investigator or co-investigator. Sanders artist residencies include the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy. His work has been included in over 200 exhibitions, and is represented in many public collections including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Library of Congress, Harvard Art Museums, and the Kennedy Museum of American Art.

Among recent awards, Sanders received a First Place Medal in the “Book as Art: Pulp” exhibition in Decatur, GA for the large scale handmade paper installation “Pulp Therapy”. Recent exhibitions also include “Art in the Time of Corona: Vol 2 / A Global Art Project" Dab Art, Los Angeles, CA, (online with book publication); “Extinction: Save the Planet 2022,“ Gallerium, Toronto, Canada (online), Master Prints in the Permanent Collection” at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, Auburn, AL; “Ink Only III” biennial at the Doris Wainwright Kennedy Arts Center and Azar Studios, Birmingham, AL; “Paper on the River” at the Atlas Science Center in Appleton WI; and “Flora and Fauna: An Exploration in Prints” at the Carrolton Center for the Arts in Carrolton, GA. Curatorial projects by Sanders include “MATRIX: Contemporary Printmaking,” a national invitational exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts (MOFA) at Florida State University. He has served as an exhibition juror for “The Book as Art, v.8: Infinity” at the Decatur Library; “Combined Talents: The Florida International” at the Museum of Fine Arts (MOFA) in Tallahassee, FL; “The 13th Annual Destin Festival of the Arts” for the Mattie Kelley Arts Foundation at Henderson Beach State Park in Destin; and the “Florida Printmakers 15th National Print Competition” at the Dunedin Fine Art Center. Sanders maintains studios in Columbus, GA and on Dog Island, FL, a boat access barrier island comprised of privately held and Nature Conservancy lands.

Biographical Details

Joe Sanders was born in Biloxi, Mississippi at Kessler Air Force Base in 1957. He moved extensively with his military family. His mother is a retired English teacher. His father, Joe Sr., was an amateur artist and West Point graduate who developed a distinguished career in the Air Force and Hughes Aircraft.

Sanders chose a creative direction, earning a B.F.A. with Distinction from Florida State University in 1981, specializing in printmaking. There he worked closely with two influential printmakers, Arthur Deshaies and William Walmsley, both known for working in an abstract, biomorphic style. Sanders worked with fellow student Wayne Kline, who later founded the Rolling Stone Press Atelier in Atlanta. Sanders received an M.F.A. degree from Arizona State University in 1986, where he worked with Daniel Britton, Wayne Kimball, and John Risseeuw. He assisted Joseph Segura as a graduate research assistant in ASU’s print research facility.

Upon graduating from ASU, Sanders served as Resident Artist and Studio Manager for the Colorado Mountain College near Vail. He moved to Dog Island, Florida for a year before relocating to Atlanta where he worked with Kline at Rolling Stone Press. He joined the faculty at the University of Georgia in Athens in 1988. Sanders developed the Green Street Press letterpress facility and taught printmaking, book arts, and papermaking at the Lamar Dodd School of Art for 18 years. While at LDSOA, he served as Gallery Director, Graduate Program Coordinator, and Professor and Chair of the Printmaking Department. He spent numerous summers teaching for the Cortona Studies Abroad Program in Italy. He married his lifelong partner and collaborator Julie Sand, herself an award winning graphic designer, in 1992.

 Returning to Florida State University as Professor and Chair of the Department of Art in 2006, Sanders helped initiate the “Friends of the Art Department” group, as well as research facilities including Small Craft Advisory Press with Denise Bookwalter and the FSU formLab with Chad Eby. These later morphed into FAR (Facility for Arts Research). He served on the Advisory Board for the Museum of Fine Arts (MOFA) as well as the Florida Department of Revenue: Art in State Buildings Program, administered by Florida’s Division of Cultural Affairs. Sanders served as Chair of the Statewide Common Course Prerequisite Committee for Art, Design, and Art History for the State University System of Florida Board of Governors.

 In 2009, Sanders accepted the position of Alan F. Rothschild Distinguished Chair and Department Chair in the Department of Art on the gorgeous RiverPark Campus of Columbus State University on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, where he developed and implemented over two million dollars in private foundation grants for departmental projects, and contributed to raising another half-million in donor contributions. At CSU, Sanders developed the Seaboard Depot Art Studios, an multi-use adaptive reuse of a historic train depot originally built in 1902. He assisted in developing the Bo Bartlett Center facility in the Corn Center for the Visual Arts. He spearheaded the development of Animation and Graphic Design programs, among other initiatives.

At CSU, Sanders also dedicated a decade as a member the Board of Directors of the Pasaquan Preservation Society, supporting the Kohler Foundation with site preservation, resulting in the eventual stewardship transfer of the St. Eom’s visionary artist compound and artifacts to Columbus State University. In service to other non-profit arts organizations, Sanders’ led the Southern Graphics Council (now SGC International) as Vice President and President of the Board of Directors, and as editor of Graphic Impressions. Sanders currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Printmakers Studio. Sanders leadership training has included the Department Chairs Workshop Institute for Academic Leadership at Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida; the E3 training and Chairs Institute workshops through CSU, and Jim Blanchard Leadership Forums through the Cunningham Center Leadership Institute.