Joe Vinson received a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, and a diploma in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  After a year of postgraduate studies, his work received the distinction of being displayed in the Museum of Fine Arts and received the highest traveling scholarship of that year.  He has taught classes in both painting and drawing at the Museum School,  Cooper Union and the Arts Students League in New York.

Since 1998 Joe has been a co-director of Etruscan Places, a landscape painting program in Italy where he lives from May through November. 

His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in the USA, Italy and France. A one person exhibition at OCRA in Montalcino, Italy will open September 29, 2023.