Owens is a graduate of Howard University's B.F.A. program and a Yale University M.F.A. in painting. Owens is the curator of the galleries at Chicago State University and teaches drawing and painting. 

Exhibition highlights: Owens has exhibited her work on four continents: North America, Europe, South America and Africa. A partial list of her exhibitions include: Swedish Embassy in Stockholm, NATO Headquarters in Brussels, the University of Pennsylvania Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The DuSable Museum of African American History, the Koehnline Museum, The Irish Heritage Center and Columbia College’s Book and Paper Center. She has been selected for exhibitions at the Madd Art Gallery in St. Louis, Missouri; Butridge Gallery, Austin, Texas and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pennsylvania. She has been represented at the National Black Fine Arts show in New York by ArtJaz Gallery, Philadelphia, Parish Gallery, D.C. and Nicole Gallery, Chicago. Owens exhibited at The Spertus Museum, South Shore Arts, Indiana; The University of Alabama, Connecticut College (curated by Barkley Hendricks) and Woman Made Gallery, Chicago in group exhibitions where she also won two solo exhibitions. Owens exhibited in a two-person exhibition at the Museum of Greater Lafayette in Indiana in 2011 and numerous galleries including Gallery Guichard and Jackson Junge Gallery, both in Chicago.

Lectures: The Art Institute of Chicago, Purdue University and The Art Museum of Greater Lafayette, Indiana; Columbia College of Chicago; The Catholic Theological Union, Chicago; Waubonsee College; The Art Institute of Chicago, among other institutions. She has sat on panels during the College Art Association annual convention at the School of the Art Institute, Columbia College, Intuit Gallery, The Chicago Humanities Festival, the Carver Museum in Austin, TX, The Department of Cultural Affairs at The Chicago Cultural Center, Columbia College, South Shore Arts, Indiana; South Side Community Art Center; and Woman Made Gallery, Chicago;.

Awards: Ragdale Fellow Joyce Owens has been award winning since 6^th grade. The year book art editor in high school, in college Owens was the art editor of the Howard University literary magazine for three years, and was given her first illustration assignment by Random House. At Yale University she won the Helen Winternitz Award in Painting and contributed to their art and literary magazine. Yale’s historic Whiffenpoofs hired her to create a poster for them as she earned her advanced degree. Joyce Owens awards were selected by: Faith Ringgold, Martin Puryear, Madeline Rabb, Chicago Public Art Group muralist John Pittman Weber, art critic and Artnews correspondent Margaret Hawkins. Kevin Nance, Chicago Suntimes art critic, named her exhibition at Nicole Gallery in 2007 one of the top ten of the year in Chicago. Besides these significant arts observers who awarded Owens prizes including Best of Show in national and international juried exhibitions, other accolades include a 3Arts fellowship, Chicago Women’s Caucus for Art award and the African American Arts Alliance award for her achievements in the visual arts. Owens has been included in catalogs, journals, books, feature and favorable reviews in print on TV and radio about her work.  

Exhibitions: Additional venues presenting Owens in solo and two-person exhibitions are Arrowhead Room at Waubonsee College in Sugar Grove, IL, Parish Gallery, D.C.; Nicole Gallery, Clarence White Gallery, ARC Gallery, Veeck Gallery, Chicago; Elmhurst College's Frick Center, IL, the H.F. Johnson Gallery at Carthage College, Wisconsin, Homewood Studios in Minneapolis, Wood Street Gallery and Sculpture Garden, and Concordia University in Illinois.

Juries/panels: Owens has served as juror, panelist, consultant and lecturer for various projects and events including the Illinois Arts Council, Arts Alliance Illinois, Chicago Artists Coalition, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs for Chicago Artists Month and Chicago Artist Resource, Columbia College, the Hyde Park Art Center, Wells Street Art Fair, Old Town Art Fair, Purdue University, The DuSable Museum, The Museum of Science and Industry’s Black Creativity and others.

Collections: Some public and private collections that own her paintings are: Paul R. Jones, Dan Parker, Patric McCoy, Lisa McDonald, Dr. Robert Derden, Ed Gordon, Madeline Rabb, Les Payne, Dr. Lucius Earles, D.E. Simmons, Mt. Sinai Hospital clinic and Oakton Community College and Lois Weisberg, former Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago.

Owens is married to journalist Monroe Anderson and the proud mother of their sons, Scott M. Anderson and Kyle F. Anderson.