Joy Brown was born in Japan in 1951, a child of medical missionaries to Japan. Brown received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Eckerd College in Florida. After graduating, she returned to Japan to work as an apprentice in traditional Japanese ceramics for four years. During that time of rigorous training, she was required to make thousands of cups, never firing one. Submission to the demands of this process taught her the technical skills, a disciplined concentration, and an understanding of and respect for the clay. Her rounded forms of clay and bronze convey the heavy gravity of stone; the expressions and gestures transcend that weight, suggesting warmth, lightness of being and evoking a sense of stillness and peace.