About Joy

Joy Meyer Blalock is an educator, founder, and visual artist dedicated to helping artists, makers, and dreamers build meaningful, sustainable creative practices.

With over a decade of teaching experience and more than 2,000 hours spent mentoring students, leading workshops, conducting portfolio reviews, and presenting public art lectures, Joy brings both expertise and encouragement to every coaching relationship. Before becoming a K–12 educator, she taught at the university level, holding positions at UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Greensboro, and Elon University. She has also conducted high school portfolio reviews at Duke University, helping emerging artists prepare strong portfolios and pursue their creative goals with confidence.

Joy holds an MFA in Visual Art with a concentration in Photography and Video from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned dual BAs with Distinction in Studio Art and Art History from the University of Virginia, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest academic honor society.

As a mentor, Joy meets each artist exactly where they are on their creative journey. She believes every voice is unique and works collaboratively with clients to develop confidence, build momentum, strengthen portfolios, and create sustainable creative practices. Her approach combines contemporary design-thinking strategies with a deep appreciation for foundational artistic techniques and individualized guidance.

Joy creates and exhibits visual art and video work under the artist name joy tirade. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the Ackland Art Museum. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, with exhibitions in Canada, Norway, Lithuania, South Korea, and throughout the United States. Her work has been featured in publications including The Third Coast, The Virginia Literary Review, 3.7, Summmer, and Mildred Pierce, and most recently appeared on the cover of a book published by Routledge Press.

Based in Oakland, California, Joy continues an active studio practice while coaching artists and pursuing her alternative process photography, video, and zine projects. When she's not in the studio, she enjoys going to museums, reading novels, caring for her ever-growing collection of houseplants, and making her famously good, gluten-free pancakes.