Joyce Birkenstock

Joyce Birkenstock is a remarkable artist and photographer, and a peripatetic international traveler who has visited most countries of the world. She received her training at the University of Dallas, the University of Iowa, the Norton Art School, the Art Students League, and the Vermont Studio Center, and her awards, achievements and professional affiliations are too many to list here. Her artist's statement on her website includes this: "I feel a human connection with the people I paint, and while I may never see them again, I have become a part of them and they have become a part of me."

She traveled on most of my photo expeditions, and the picture above is one of her exquisite paintings made during the photo expedition The Temples of People of Angkor Wat, which I organized and led in February 2006.