Joe Wardwell is currently an Associate Professor of Painting at Brandeis University. He founded the Brandeis-in-Siena program in 2015. Wardwell received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting in 1996 from the University of Washington in Seattle. In 1999, he received a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Boston University.

Currently on view through 2022, Wardwell has a large-scale wall drawing commissioned for the renovation of building 6 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, and Wardwell's work is in each collection.

In 2012, Wardwell was a recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant for Painting. He was recently awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Creative Arts at Boston University. In addition to numerous group exhibitions throughout the region, he has held solo exhibitions in New York, New Haven, Boston, and Seattle.

In 2020, Wardwell will exhibit in New York with the Frosch and Portmann gallery in the Lower East Side.  His work is represented in Boston by the LaMontagne Gallery. Wardwell lives with his family in Jamaica Plain and his studio is in Dorchester.