Artist Joanelle Mulrain

Joanelle Mulrain grew up on the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Following a penchant for archaeology and ancient history, she obtained a degree in Fine Arts, and studied the Mayan culture in Mexico. Her professional career began in retail, continued for 20 years as an executive in healthcare, then into politics while working for a U.S. Senator in Washington, DC, where her love of art and nature’s seasons flourished. There she began consulting through Mulrain Resource Group (strategic planning, marketing communications, outreach).

Mulrain moved back to Jacksonville and started to paint again after 30 years. She picked up her camera once again and began her nature photography, and wrote a book, “Re-Rooting: Life’s Journey,” now in Special Collections at the University of North Florida (Amazon.com). The dual images – the heron and cattails – inspired her and, subsequently, became the logo and signature images. Her work offers a radiant palette of bold colors balanced in a spiritual and calming manner. Photo essays now include "The Little Monks of Bhutan" and the "Zachariah Kingsley Plantation Suite." Her commune with nature is evident as she visually asks the viewer to participate with her in this journey through nature on canvas and paper and share her deep understanding of the importance of sustaining our ecosystems while protecting and preserving our natural environment for generations to come. An adventurous spirit, Mulrain and her oldest son crewed the HMS Bounty tall ship from Jacksonville to South Street Seaport, New York; later they summited Mount Kilimanjaro; and he recently reached Mount Everest Base Camp 2.

Her work appears in many private collections, and she continues to participate in one-woman as well as group shows. When the Karpeles Library Manuscript Museum offered her a show, she immediately focused on their upcoming exhibit of Florence Nightingale manuscripts. Her vision was to create an important suite of paintings to complement the Museum's exhibit. As she began to research Miss Nightingale, she was further inspired when she came upon a 1890 phonograph recording in the British Library Sound Archive. Soon her research brought her to the Library of Congress (Washington, DC) and to England (The Florence Nightingale Museum, British Army Museum, Lea Hurst, and Claydon House), as well as meeting the inspirational Dr. Jean Watson, this millennium’s nursing pioneer. This personal journey also broadened into a blog www.thenursinginspirationproject.com asking nurses to “share their story” in 1,000 words or less why they chose nursing as their life’s work. She hopes to print a coffee table book in 2011 with the top 100 stories.

Mulrain presently resides in Jacksonville with her two sons, Jeffry Arthur Mulrain/24 and John Wood Mulrain/18. She is a member of the National League of American Pen Women (Washington DC), National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, DC), and The National Arts Club (New York, NY).
Mulrain was profoundly inspired by Florence Nightingale as a beacon of hope and a bright light in the world for those who have chosen the profession of nursing as their calling and has enjoyed this experience as well as her new collection of Nightingale ephemera, part of the traveling exhibit. This exhibit is dedicated to the Artist's mother, the late Nelle Beryl Rucker Wood, R.N., and her late mother-in-law, Mina Larson Mulrain, an artist.

For information of the artist go to Great Blue Heron Studios.

For information on the original traveling Exhibit, the entire/partial suite, suite of prints, or speaking engagements, please email jmulrain@comcast.net .