A Midwesterner by birth, Kreves, the youngest of three children, grew up in a Chicago suburb. Her father, a Unitarian minister, and mother, an elementary school teacher, were both supportive of her interest in the arts. This included their having an old violin repaired and providing years of private violin lessons. 

Early in life, she realized that “art as an expression could depart from outer reality.” The freedom and power inherent in art probably helped tip the balance when she had to decide whether to become a professional musician or a visual artist.

She earned a teaching degree in art education at Illinois State University, then completed a master’s in painting there before moving to New York City for further study at the New School for Social Research. Kreves also performed with young musicians, built stage sets and props and in general practiced “blurring the lines between all the arts, and between art and other activities.”

Once a New Jersey resident, she turned gallerist, running Joy Kreves Fine Art in Frenchtown for five years; she was also a member of Lambertville’s Artists’ Gallery. As detailed on her website -- www.joykreves.com, which also links to her highly readable blog – Kreves’ work has been widely exhibited in solo and group shows.

She and her husband, Jonathan Yavelow, have lived in Ewing for nearly two decades. Their college-student daughter, Ivia Sky Yavelow, has just “decided to follow the siren of her heart's song and be a visual artist like me,” Kreves wrote in a recent blog post. The . . . brush has been passed.

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Save the date: Saturday, May 19 (1-5 and 7-9 pm) or Sunday, May 20 (1-6 pm) for Joy Kreves’ Open Studio Event. Visit and snack, browse and/or buy artworks. Details at www.joykreves.com. RSVP by Thursday, May 17.

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Freelance writer Pat Summers also blogs at www.nj.com/pets.