Joe always loved making art. A fifth generation Washingtonian, he attended the University of Maryland, majored in art and met another wonderful artist, Jean, to whom he's been married for over 35 years. The other very talented Jean Fitzgerald, whose paintings are available on this site, is not his wife. But that shouldn't be held against her.
He was Chief of Graphics at the National Library of Medicine, from which he retired in 2005. He designed and produced computer generated art and animation. A great place to work, he adored his co-workers.
Joe works in oil, pastels, colored pencils and woodcuts and has had over a dozen one-man shows...primarily landscapes of Italy & Ireland. His art is in a number of private and public collections, including several American embassies abroad. For years, he was represented by the Foxhall Gallery in Washington, D.C. He's listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Art.
In 2004, Joe was among 24 artists selected from over 300 applicants to be in the U.S. Mint's Artistic Infusion Program to redesign America's coinage. His designs were chosen for both both sides of the 2005 Westward Journey nickels, celebrating the Lewis & Clark expedition. The United States minted over a billion of his nickels, which, with any luck, will last for hundreds of years.