Janet Mishner

Artists Statement

A trip to the bookstore reveals the proliferation of journals and diaries among the books.  People like to record their observations, experiences and feelings.

This is the way that I use my canvas. By observation, I do not mean that I draw from looking, but rather from an accumulation of observations. I feel that the camera does a pretty good job of documentation. What I am after is expression. Although I have been using acrylics, paper collage and computer images in my art, they seem to have a common thread running through them. They are sometimes narratives. When I am creating an artwork, I feel the same power as an author creating a character in a story.

 It sometimes seems that as I go along, the story changes as the composition evolves. As my mentor,  Maryland abstract artist Gladys Goldstein would say, children mature in a particular direction and trying to force them to fit your expectations is futile. It is better to allow them to grow naturally and follow that direction.  She would say the canvas is like a child, and I agree with that. 

The Suits

Collage on Canvas

Biography

Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Janet Mishner majored in art in high school and attended classes at Maryland Institute College of Art. She graduated from University of Maryland with a degree in Elementary Art Education and taught in the Baltimore City Public School system until her first child was born. She continued to teach part time at various community centers including the Towson University Community Arts Center, and continued her own studies at Towson and Maryland Institute.

After her youngest child entered elementary school, Janet began to pursue further studies in art. She volunteered as a docent at the Baltimore Museum of Art for four years. She also began studying with abstract artist Gladys Goldstein for seven years, until her move to Bradenton, Florida. During her years in Baltimore, Janet participated in the juried shows of the (formerly named) Maryland Art League,  and many group and solo shows. Although she has most recently been working with collage as well as digital art, the collage medium for Janet dates back to her teenage years when a collage poster that she entered in a contest to advertise a jazz concert won first prize of $50.00. 

Since moving to Florida, Janet is a member of the Art Center Sarasota, Art Center Manatee, Creative Artist Association of Lakewood Ranch, and Women Contemporary Artists, where she has participated in juried art shows.  She has had several solo exhibitions of her art work in local galleries, including Paradox Gallery, Hagan Photography and Framing, and Chloe’s Bead Shop at Ubiquity Gallery, and she was one of several artists chosen to have a month long solo exhibit at the Florida West Coast Symphony’s Harmony Hall during March 2006.

In addition to her collage and painting, Janet continues to create computer art for a company that she started, known as Fabulous Faces™ of Arts & Graphics, Inc.  The primary focus of this art is the “celebration of women who have finally reached a certain age and become beautiful.” There are over sixty-five prints, each accompanied by a short story written by Janet, that are inspired by both autobiographical experience and observation. On the surface, these prints do not seem related to the paintings and collages that she continues to create, but they share a common theme for Janet which is her use of the visual medium to respond to and express her ideas about people and events.