Joan Hurtado is based in Toowoomba ,Queensland. She has been interested in drawing and painting from a very early age. Hurtado has studied most art mediums from watercolour, acrylics and oils. Attending workshops in NSW and Queensland, teaching in primary and secondary schools until retirement in 1992. Her passion for art continued and she held solo and group exhibitions at Charles.Ginn Gallery, the Terrace and Red Hill Gallery, Brisbane. After retiring, she applied herself to community work as Workshop and Grant’s person at Yurara Art Society, Redlands.

Hurtado began a Bachelor of Visual Art, University of Southern Queensland , Toowoomba in 2023.