Joan Hall works in mixed media and large-scale sculptural installations with an emphasis on the materials of paper, glass, and metal. Hall was born in Mansfield, Ohio and currenly lives in Jamestown, Rhode Island. She received her BFA at the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio and her MFA at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She studied papermaking with Garner Tullis at the Institute of Experimental Papermaking and Printmaking in San Francisco.  She is known for her innovative approaches to material and process. 

An avid sailor, her work focuses on human interactions with and impact on the ocean, particularly in regards to plastic pollution. Hall's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at the Brooklyn Museum of Art (NY), Leopold-Hoesch Museum Germany), Newport Art Museum, (RI), St. Louis Art Museum (MO), Museum of Nebraska Art (Kearney, NE), Silkeborg Art Center (Denmark), The Blue Star Contemporary Art Center (San Antonio, TX), George Mason University (Fairfax, VA), Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha, NE), Hillwood Art Museum, (Brookville, NY), Walton Art Center, (Fayetteville, AR), Budapest Museum of Fine Arts (Hungary), Nordjyllands Museum of Art(Aalborg, Denmark), Suwa Municipal Museum (Japan), Municipal Museum ( Nanjing, China), Musée d' Art (Lyon, France), and the Rijswijk Museum and Apeldoorn Museums ( The Netherlands) and the Meadows Museum (Shreveport, LA).

Her was recently included in the European Cultural Center's "Personal Structures" a collateral exhibition during the Venice Biennale 2019.  She has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards that include two MAAA-NEA individual artist grants and an exhibition grant for her show in Silkeborg from the Danish National Arts Council.  Selected books include:  500 Paper Objects, New Directions in Paper, Papermaking for Printmakers, The Art and Craft of Papermaking, Critical Mass, Papermaking for Printers, Artforms, and the Art of Papermaking.