JoAnne Carson, born in New York City, currently divides her time between Brooklyn, New York, and Shoreham, Vermont. She earned her MFA degree from the University of Chicago and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois.

Her artwork resides in prominent public collections including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Joslyn Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, Frederick Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, and Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln, NE.

Carson has garnered numerous awards, notably a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, an Award in the Visual Arts, a Purchase Prize from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Louise Bourgeois Residency from Yaddo, and an individual artist grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Her sculptures, paintings, and drawings have been featured in extensive solo and two-person exhibitions, including The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the Zillman Art Museum in Bangor, Maine, as well as in notable New York City galleries such as Black and White, Claire Oliver, Washburn, Ruth Siegel, and Plus Ultra.

Carson's work has also been showcased in significant group exhibitions at public institutions such as the Whitney Biennial Exhibition, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Ceremonial Exhibition, The New Orleans Museum Frederick Weisman Collection, the Albright Knox Gallery in Buffalo, Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, The Sheldon Art Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the Fleming Museum in Burlington, Vermont.

She holds the title of Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University at Albany, SUNY. Her work is represented by DC Moore Gallery, New York City.