Born in Boston, MA, Joan Sarah Wexler graduated from the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH with a B.A. in Art. Afterwards, she studied fine art photography with the world-renowned Minor White at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. She then continued her education for a M.F.A. degree in fine art photography with another world-renowned photographer, Harry Callahan at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI. However, due to an onset of an emotional illness, she left R.I.S.D. and moved to Bethesda, MD to be closer to her family.

Eventually, Joan obtained a position at the National Science Foundation where she worked for 27 years in various capacities including photographer – all the while, pursuing her photography as an avocation and form of therapy. Additionally, Joan worked for several months on a detail as a photo archivist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. She has exhibited in many galleries throughout the Washington metropolitan area including the Kathleen Ewing Gallery, Tart Gallery, Ellipse Art Center, and the Heineman Myers Contemporary Art Gallery. Joan was represented by the Heineman Myers Contemporary Art Gallery from 2006 up until the gallery’s closure in May of 2009. She is currently represented by the Kathleen Ewing Gallery and lives in Washington, DC.