PERSISTERS BY JO HAY
On Exhibit: October 15 - October 27
Opening Reception: Tuesday, October 15 at 2 PM
JO HAY
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jo Hay is a contemporary British American portrait painter. Born in 1964 in Newcastle Upon-Tyne, England, she received her BA from Middlesex University, London, UK in 1983 and her MFA from the New York Academy of Art, New York, NY in 2012.
Hay received the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant 2010 sponsored in part by the Provincetown Art Association and Museum and was the recipient of the New York Academy of Art Portrait Scholarship 2011. Her portrait from the Benders series entitled Dodger was a semi-finalist in the BP Portrait Award 2015 at the National Gallery in London and was a finalist in Art For Freedom A Global Initiative curated by Madonna.
Hay was a subject of the documentary She is Juiced by British director Lois Norman. It was screened at Tate Modern in 2017 as part of the ground-breaking Queer Britain exhibition and the London Pride launch 2017.
In 2017 Hay began the ongoing project titled Persisters, large-scale portrait paintings representing contemporary, trailblazing women in their pursuit of justice. In 2019, a solo exhibition of the Persisters series was shown at The Provincetown Commons. Her portraits of Senator Elizabeth Warren and Vice President Kamala Harris were exhibited in the Provincetown Art Association and Museum in 2020 and 2021 respectively. In February 2022 Hay was selected as the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod’s inaugural Artist of the Year.
Hay currently lives and works in Provincetown MA.
Billie Jean King, 2023
Former world No. 1 tennis player
48 x 60 inches
Oil on canvas
“Natural talent only determines the limits of your athletic potential. It’s dedication and a willingness to discipline your life that makes you great.”
—Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles and is regarded by many as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
Among her many accolades and achievements, in 1972, she was the first woman, to appear alongside John Wooden on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the Sportsman of the Year award. In 1973, at age 29, she won the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match against the 55-year-old Bobby Riggs. In 1975 she was one of Time magazine’s Persons of the Year and she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center in New York City was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. In 2018, she won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2020, the Federation Cup was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup in her honor. In 2022, she was awarded the French Legion of Honour. She has also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
King became the first woman athlete to earn over US$100,000 in prize money; however, inequalities continued. King won the US Open in 1972 but received US$15,000 less than the men's champion Ilie Năstase. She stated that she would not play the next year if the prize money was not equal. In 1973, the US Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money for men and women.
Building on her tennis stardom to create social change, Billie Jean King has elevated the self-esteem of girls and women through her lifelong struggle for equality in the sports world. She was also the first prominent female professional athlete to come out as gay and has raised large sums to fight AIDS, contributed funds to combat homophobia in schools, and supported efforts to stem gay and lesbian teenage suicide rates. She and her wife Ilona Kloss have been in a relationship for over 40 years.