Janet Mann

(Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)

Biography

Janet was raised in Southwestern Ontario and moved to Ottawa forty years ago. Her formal education is in nursing, counselling and health care. During her professional career, she held various management and teaching positions. Janet has traveled extensively and has lived in India, England, and France and worked on nursing projects in Kosovo and Ethiopia. Janet has painted intermittently during the last 25 years and since her retirement has focused on developing her painting skills. She has taken courses at the Ottawa School of Art and has attended painting workshops in person and online with Walk the Arts.

Statement

I merge figuration with abstraction while creating a bit of mystery and tension in my paintings. The stories that emerge on the canvas evolve from my childhood memories and appear as my present-day reality. Oil paint on canvas is the medium I prefer and sometimes I mix in oil pastels and even acrylic paint.

Inspiration from great artists like Georgia O’Keeffe, The Group of Seven, and Lucien Freud has taught me about the sensuality of colour and the beauty of curved strokes. Artemisia Gentileschi provided the vision that telling the stories of one’s reality through painting is an imperative act for the present-day artist, the viewer, and the future.

In my eighth decade, I embrace my life and seek to express it in creative ways. I ask myself,” Do I imagine, dream, or am awed by my world?”  Painting answers the question for me. I strive to leave something that compliments the world, is hopeful, joyful, and sometimes thought-provoking.