Joan Henderson Hodous has had an unfinished painting of what she calls her thinking room on her easel since January. She said the painting, like others she has had trouble staying focused on, is a “selfish mistress.”
Not that her house is short of her work – the walls of her Bel Air home are covered in giclées – or digital prints – of her many paintings. Some are surrealist abstract work; some are paintings from her 20 years spent in Key West; some are just bowls of fruit. No matter the style, however, she self-identifies as a “colorist.”
Beyond paintings, her house is filled with treasures from her extensive travel over the years: a chandelier from Prague, chairs from Alhambra, Spain, and candlesticks from Berlin. And, of course, a table from Havre de Grace.
“I am the house,” Hodous said. “Everything has a story. I couldn’t tell you everything.”
Hodous is a fourth-generation Harford County resident. She grew up in Jarrettsville and graduated from North Harford High School. When she was 18, she painted her first barn.
Why barns? “I like the quiet of it,” Hodous said. “I like the smell of it.”
In 2019, the Maryland Center for the Arts held an exhibit of her barn painting collection, with 24 paintings of Harford County barns from Bel Air, Darlington, Fallston and other places.
“No matter where I went in the world or where I was,” Hodous said, “I always came back to Harford County, and I painted another barn.”
Hodous has been a longtime proponent for the arts. She taught art for a few years at Pimlico Junior High School in Baltimore starting in 1957. In 1970, she opened her own art studio in Bel Air where she taught arts classes – mostly painting – to women and children. Fourteen years later, she opened A Creative Place, where she and other local artists could sell their work. She also has a book, titled “It All Counts,” filled with her paintings and accompanying poems.
“I was extremely bored being a housewife,” she said, “and anything that I could study, I studied.”
At nearly 87 years old, Hodous’ impact on the county is still felt today. The Harford County Council recognized Hodous as a Harford Living Treasure at its meeting Feb. 1.
Her efforts in promoting women’s rights have also been a significant portion of her legacy. She was appointed to the county’s Commission for Women in 1976, around the same time she wrote a column for The Aegis titled “In Support of Women.” She said these efforts were met with great hostility.
“Women thought that I was taking away their rights,” Hodous said, “and they didn’t realize they didn’t have any rights.”
She recalled one man, a school principal, once told her that he didn’t want his tax dollars going toward the Commission for Women. So she replied, “Well, you have two daughters, don’t you? Your daughters, you’ll find, don’t have any rights.”
While on the commission, Hodous helped found the Sexual Assault/Spouse Abuse Resource Center, a nonprofit providing resources to victims of abuse. The first helpline for SARC was set up in Hodous’ kitchen in 1978.
Her work didn’t end there; around the same time, she was appointed to The John Carroll School’s Board of Trustees and the Maryland Values Education Commission.
“When you’re hot like that, standing out like that, everybody wanted you then,” she said. “I don’t like to say that, but it is true.”
John B. Kane, a retired lawyer, recommended Hodous to be recognized as a Harford Living Treasure.
“I would consider her to be a Renaissance woman of the 20th and 21st centuries, just an extraordinary person,” Kane said. “She’s been an educator, an advocate for women’s rights, a journalist, an author, a [poet], a painter … and she did it all primarily in Harford County.”
As far as Hodous’ work today, she’s spending much of her time in her Bel Air home caring for her husband Fred, who she lovingly refers to as “Buzzy.” Maybe she’ll finally get around to finishing her thinking room painting.
“I’ll be working till I die,” she said.
