Chicago, Illinois, US, 1947

Jo Ann Rothschild is an abstract painter. She lives and works in Boston. Her first meaningful encounter with visual art came at 3 when she saw a painting on glass by the American artist Irene Pereira, and was fascinated by the layering.  She is the first winner of the Maud Morgan Purchase Prize of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. She is the first recipient of the Maud Morgan Purchase Prize of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a recipient of a Grant in Painting from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Pubic Collections besides the BMFA include: The Fogg, DeCordova and Rose Museums and the 'Taller de la Gráfica' in Havana.

Rothschild has been included in exhibitions at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, The Rose Museum, The Drawing Center and the Painting Center both in New York, and the Taller Graphico. She has also shown in Chicago, as well as multiple cities in Cuba and Germany. Her first retrospective was at Gallery Imago in the National Theatre Building in Havana.

Her first teacher was Leo Garel. She studied painting with Pat Adams at Bennington College. Her MFA is from the joint program of the Boston Museum School and Tufts University. Her masters thesis concentrated on the Fra Angelico fresco cycle in San Marco in Florence. Rothschild founded the Art Program at The Pine Street Inn, the largest homeless shelter in New England.