Joy Walker was born in Tacoma, WA and received her BA from the University of Oregon. She studied at the Sorbonne, Paris as well as at the L'Institut d'Art et d'Archeologie. She also studied at Columbia University with Meyer Shapiro and at the NY Studio School with Alex Gatz and Phillip Guston. She has had many solo gallery shows and her work is in the collection of various museums. She currently resides in New York City.