PIRKLE, Joy

1962 - ?

As Joy Deborah Tuckwell, she was born at Ipswich in October 1962, daughter of Kenneth Roger Tuckwell (11 January 1930-3 December 2006), a farmer, and his wife Maisie Doreen née Crowe, who married at St Mary's Church, Worlingworth, on 7 November 1953 and Joy grew up in Worlingworth, near Eye, Suffolk. Joy was among the very first intake of girls at the former all boys, Woodbridge School in Suffolk, and studied at the Ipswich School of Art in High Street gaining a Diploma in Art and Design, before proceeding to Canterbury University now the University for the Creative Arts. Halfway through her studies, her grandmother left her the then considerable sum of £1,000, which she used to travel, trekking across Africa, Turkey, and the USA before returning home. Her travels fired her creative imagination in her painting which led her to the Bentwaters R.A.F. base at Woodbridge in Suffolk where the base commander appointed Joy as artist in residence. She then obtained a position as a personal assistant to the district works officer at RAF Bentwaters and in 1988 married American, Gary M. Pirkle and now paints under the name of Joy Pirkle. In 1991 her twins Kenneth and Loretta were born, another son William Elliot was born 1995, but the marriage ended. Once her three children were at school, Joy returned to Suffolk College to complete her B.A. (hons) Fine Art degree course. Joy Pirkle has an enviable reputation as a portrait painter having immortalised people like jockey Frankie Dettori and swimmer Karen Pickering also painting landscapes and several murals promoting children’s health and wellbeing. Joy has exhibited at Ipswich Town Hall Gallery; Digby Gallery, Colchester; Ancient House Gallery, Ipswich and at Stow Health Centre, Violet Hill Road, Stowmarket. Joy is a former member of Suffolk Open Studios from her studio at 38 Martinet Green, Ravenswood, Ipswich. Her daughter Loretta Mae Pirkle, born January 1991, is also an artist.

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Works by This Artist