Joan Arend was born on March 23rd, 1926 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and raised through her elementary years in Stevens Point, WI. She had two brothers and two sisters. Arend attended Washington Highschool in Milwaukee and eventually entering the Milwaukee State Teachers College, where she learned under Robert Von Neumann. Arend later entered the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee where she had training in illustration and commercial art. Arend married Roland "Kick" Kickbush and the couple moved to Anchorage, AK where Arend continued her art and worked as a teacher. From 1955 forward, she began painting native Alaskan children in wide-eyed, doll-like portraits. The couple left Alaska in 1975 and they then lived in Oregon, California, and Arizona and eventually moving back to Wisconsin. Arend died on June 16th, 2006 in Delafield, WI.