Jo Gamel
Jo Gamel (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based interdisciplinary painter, sculptor, writer, and musician. Her practice merges painting, assemblage, fiction, and sound with curatorial and community work. As a member of the Board of Directors at the Arts League of Philadelphia and an assistant at The Jane Gallery, she helps shape collective spaces for dialogue. Her curatorial projects in Philadelphia and Brooklyn bring artists together in experimental, cross-disciplinary gatherings.
Gamel’s work transforms relics from nature and Philadelphia’s architecture into mystic, devotional altars that blur ritual with critique. Through these hybrid practices, she examines the systemic treatment of women’s bodies in medicine alongside the city’s renewed interest in holistic and naturopathic care. Rooted in Philadelphia’s collaborative ethos, her altars function as speculative sites of communal transformation.
Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues including the Louvre during Paris+ Art Basel, Chelsea Old Town Hall during London Art Week, the European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona, and Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens. She has been featured in Create! Magazine, Killer Magazine, Daughter Magazine, and on the front page of the Salem Sunbeam. Gamel received the Women in Art Excellence Award from Artio Gallery in London, as well as First Place and Best in Show honors from Art Is Cool. She earned her BFA with high honors from Moore College of Art & Design, where she was awarded the Emerging Leaders in the Arts Scholarship and the Excellence in Painting Award, supporting her research on Eastern Baroque architecture in St. Petersburg.
Contact
www.jogamel.com
jodee_joan@yahoo.com
instagram.com/jogamel
Interview
What inspires your art practice and keeps you motivated?
I’m inspired by the dialogue between nature, architecture, and the body. Transforming found relics into devotional forms sustains my curiosity about ritual, healing, and collective memory.
How does your mission as an artist influence the work you create?
My mission is to merge care with critique. I create spaces where art functions as both reflection and restoration, dissolving boundaries between the sacred and the social.
Can you share a key part of your creative process that helps you stay focused?
I begin each project with a grounding ritual — arranging a small altar in the studio. This practice anchors my attention and keeps intuition central to the process.
What mindset tip do you rely on to overcome challenges in your art career?
I approach obstacles as part of the work’s evolution. Patience and experimentation often reveal what urgency obscures.
How do you hope your art impacts the world or your community?
I hope my work fosters reflection and renewal, encouraging viewers to consider healing as a shared and imaginative act.
