It all really started when my mum gave me her second hand oil paints and brushes, all in this beautiful wooden box. I'd been watching a lot of Bob Ross on TV, and thought I'd give it a try.

I was 13 years old.

Artist Bio

Janet was born in 1977 into a family that long had the painting spirit.

Art runs in my family.
My mother painted.
My uncle painted.

My grandfather painted.

I paint. And I sculpt.

In her early teens she was the proud recipient of her Mother's oil painting supplies, which she immediately began to experiment with.  She still uses the same painting box today.

Janet completed two years of a Fine Arts degree from Concordia University in 2000.  In 2001 she began her Masters Degree in Art Therapy from the same university.  Exploring how the creation of art can heal and illuminate revealed to Janet important aspects of her dual identity of artist and therapist. Her master’s thesis; An artist meets a therapist : conflict and convergence in the identity of the emerging art therapist, demonstrated how a creative practice is imperative for balance in the work of an art therapist, and resulted in a solo show in the Fine Arts building.

Near the end of her time in Montreal Janet found a large wooden frame in an alley-way. Janet imagined stretching primed canvas over this frame and creating the largest oil painting she’d ever done. Her partner bought her a large roll of primed canvas, investing in countless future art pieces. But alas … the canvas roll was only 6 feet wide, the exact width of the frame. The canvas could not be stretched over the edges.

What would happen if, Janet thought, I cut up the canvas and randomly sewed the bits together?

So she did. But the canvas was so loose. So Janet hand sewed areas to make it as tight as possible. She then began to play with colour, within the shapes of the folds, until a magnificent flower emerged.

SewnArt was born.

Inception - 2004 - 63"x 63"x 1 3/4"

In 2006, Janet moved from Montreal to the islands of Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. The incredible beauty and power of the Haida Gwaii landscape continues to inspire each new painting.  Her art has been shown all over the Islands.  She had a solo exhibition at Queen B’s Café in 2008 and regularly had works at Sitka Studio and All About U Arts. Additionally, works were often displayed at Revive Therapeutic Centre and the Haida House at Tllaal.

Since the Haida Gwaii Museum began holding art auctions to fundraise in 2012, Janet has contributed one or two pieces almost every year, raising much needed funds that support the Museum in documenting and strengthening the Haida Culture.

Janet also exhibits regularly in the All Islands Art Show alongside the many diverse and talented artists of Haida Gwaii. Janet has sold works to collectors across Canada as well as here on Haida Gwaii. The late Ben Davidson was an avid collector of her work, purchasing three paintings over the years.

Janet is well known for her SewnArt canvases.  These paintings are part sculpture, part painting.  Randomly sewn together pieces of canvas create a textured backdrop, which guides how the painting is expressed and propels her two-dimensional painting into three dimensions.  There is a tension in her paintings as a result of the rough stitching pulling the canvas together and the image thus created.  Beautiful, constrained, surprising, and unique, each painting is a one-of-a-kind original.