You may recall seeing Janet's upbeat energy, and cultural and artistic studio on the popular HGTV television show "Thats Clever", formerly known as "Crafters Coast To Coast". She takes a moment to share with us her connection to her art and talks about what inspires her artistically:

ymib: What is your goal or mission as an artist...what feeling or message do you want to give?

Janet: The act of living creatively and spiritually is for me a work of art. Perhaps a stanza from the Mexican poet/artist Alberto Blanco best describes the act of making art:

“Why So Many Forms?

Maybe at the road’s end all that matters

is the splendor springing from a completed task.

The quantity of energy gathered in each work.”

Janet: Also the words from a poem by Romare Bearden amplifies memories for me and the process of creativity:

“What is it?

I’m trying really to remember

The clock has stopped

Now I can never know

Where the edge of my world can be

If I could only enter that old calendar

That opens to an old, old July

And learn what unknowing things know...”

Janet: Art for me amplifies memories!

ymib: The Dress..when and how did you come up with using the dress as a metaphor of experience?

Janet: The dress goes back to the death of my father, when I had to go and buy my first black dress. I began to think about how the idea and identity of how we dress defines parts of our lives.

ymib: What genre of art are you most inspired by and how would you describe your artwork and style?

Janet: I'm a mixed media artist. I love materials. I've experimented with many in my life as an artist. I have worked in metal. I've tried blacksmithing, glass blowing, ceramics, papermaking, and more. Picasso said that the artist must become the child again. That for me means an openess to experimetation and not being afraid to make mistakes. In those so called mistakes there are moments of serendipity and the Divine.

ymib: What meaning does the hand represent to you?

Janet: The hand appears, as do other signs and symbols, as a continuing source for inspiration. Hands for me, as with the dress and jacket become more sources for expression—love, hope, healing, heart, spirit and identity. Each image of the hand and garment like the jacket or dress, have their character.

ymib: Who or what has been your biggest influence with your style and approach to art?

Janet: I'm influenced by and admire artists such as Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Fra Angelico, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, Beatrice Wood, Lois Mailou Jones, Augusta Savage, Elizabeth Catlett, Jim Dine--art history - Egyptian Art, certainly various aspects of Tribal African art and design.....religious iconography so much.

ymib: Can you tell us the concept behind “Icon” (what does the painting say to you)?

Janet: The work "Icon" was influenced by images of Christian icons - images of the Virgin Mary, and the Black Madonnas around the world. So, in that I used the dress as a conduit for that visual message.

ymib: What mediums do you most often use within your pieces?

Janet: In my works on paper, the media is varied. Pastel, watercolor, acrylics, pencils, oil sticks, collage - all major materials. I can't just name one. Sometimes, it's whatever, my hand reaches for or whatever the work calls for....Books, poetry and music are all part and parcel of what goes in the work.

ymib: Which of your paintings is your favorite and why?

Janet: I don't really have any favorites...it seems what ever I am done working with and it speaks a kind of authenticity that is felt and not forced. After that it's open to the Univerise.

ymib: What is your favorite affirmation or inspirational quote?

Janet: "Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art." --Leonardo Da Vinci.This is one of my favorite quotes.