> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://bklyner.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Flatbush Artist Joelle Provost Incorporates Climate Change Into Her Painting - URL: https://bklyner.com/flatbush-artist-joelle-provost-incorporates-climate-change-into-her-painting-ditmas-park/ - Published: 2015-12-02T21:30:05.000Z - Updated: 2015-12-04T19:42:58.000Z - Author: Shannon Geis - Tags: Arts & Culture, Central Brooklyn, Ditmas Park, Neighbors, Nonsponsored, art, Brooklyn College, environmental art, flatbush artists, holiday show, Joelle Provost, painting, weekinreview, #wp ![They Said Italy, I Said Denmark by Joelle Provost](/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/They-Said-Italy-I-Said-Denmark-702x533.jpg) They Said Italy, I Said Denmark by Joelle Provost Local artist [Joelle Provost](http://joelleprovost.wix.com/elisabeth?ref=bklyner.com#!)‘s colorful paintings are for her a way of exploring climate change and the world around her. We caught up with her to talk about her work and what inspires her. **DPC: Tell us about yourself.** **Joelle Provost:** I grew up in California, in Richmond, the uncool version of Oakland. It’s a notorious ghetto. I have a lot of pride in it because it’s the underdog. I grew up with four brothers in tiny two bedroom house. My parents were very eclectic and colorful. They let me paint on the walls: Art Deco in kitchen, graffiti in the bathroom. It was organized chaos. I moved to New York to pursue Master’s degree at Brooklyn College. I was super ready for a change and it was the best thing for me. I just graduated in June. I became an art teacher recently and I want to work directly with the environment and climate change. **Was there a moment for you when you questioned your decision to be an artist?** As early as four years old, I wanted to be an artist. Then I had a quarter life crisis and decided I wasn’t going to be an artist and was going to become a firefighter instead. I took EMS classes and everything. I thought the firefighters were cute, but i couldn’t handle the blood and gore and so I was not for the job. Then I was accepted into graduate school came to Brooklyn College, where I started working to come back to the fact that I was always an artist. **Explain what you mean when you describe your work as environmental art.** Some of my paintings focus on the environment and climate change directly. [Mount Shasta ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount%5FShasta?ref=bklyner.com)(located in California) used to have snow but doesn’t have snow anymore, so that became the focus of one of my paintings. ![Mount Shasta by Joelle Provost](/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Mount-Shasta.jpeg) Mount Shasta by Joelle Provost When I’m painting, I don’t always know what it is going to be until it’s all together. A year before grad school I made a painting called, They Said Italy, I Said Denmark. It was about the hurricane in Philippines and [Fukushima](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima%5FDaiichi%5Fnuclear%5Fdisaster?ref=bklyner.com). The painting was all of these houses twirling around on this sea. It’s kind of interesting how climate change manifests itself in my work. **You are a member of the Flatbush Artists, how has that affected your work?** I’m new, but the whole Ditmas Park community keeps me grounded in the craziness of New York City. I feel like as a Californian I couldn’t survive without the people in Flatbush Artists. They are more like Californians than anyone I’ve met. It’s another level community. The F[latbush Artists studio tour](/blog/events/check-out-the-flatbush-artists-studio-tour-this-weekend/) is fantastic because it brings all walks together. It was intimate because they came onto our porch and had genuine conversations. I feel like it’s a really warm and intimate community that grounds me in New York. **What do you love about the neighborhood?** I run in Prospect Park every day. Lately, I’ve been drawing a lot more. I don’t have a studio so I draw all over the neighborhood. I love the variations of the Victorian houses and the trees. I feel like the trees just provide so much nourishment. I love just being really present and walking in the neighborhood, and the houses and trees are sights for sore eyes. We live in a tumultuous time but there’s still these great things that exist. **What is your favorite neighborhood gem?** I love Sycamore Bar. I love going to Highbury Pub, it’s usually kind of empty and I love that. In Newkirk Plaza, I love Plaza Gourmet. They are so nice and I love the Turkish figs. ![In Defense of No Rules by Joelle Provost](/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/In_Defense_of_No_Rules-702x705.jpg) In Defense of No Rules by Joelle Provost **Tell us a little bit about one of your paintings and how it came to be.** My painting In Defense of No Rules was from a phase in my life that was emotionally tricky. It’s from the firefighter phase. I was just really frustrated after undergrad of all the rules I was given from my painting classes. So i wrote down all the rules on a 48 by 48 square canvas. I felt really disobedient. I felt suffocated by the rules that my teachers had given me. Don’t I make the rules? So I had this daunting canvas, I painted the rules on it. And then a figure. Afterword, I realized it was a self portrait. It was me surrounded by all of these external things. I felt overwhelmed and overstimulated, a lot of anxiety. This was the beginning of another common theme in my work: where ever you go there you are, you can’t escape your bad habits. --- Interested in more work by the Flatbush Artists? Check out their [Holiday Show this weekend](http://www.flatbushartists.org/?ref=bklyner.com), December 5 and 6, from 12-6pm at 502 9th Street in Park Slope (between 7th and 8th Avenues).