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Janell Edwards • Dubuque, IA • Mixed Media
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I grew up on a farm in Bernard, Iowa and currently live in Peosta, Iowa. I believe that living close to nature, through my childhood days of playing in the creek and swinging through the weeping willow trees, up until today, has left a lasting impression on and how I view and interact with the world.
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I love being outdoors. I think one should feel hot in the summer and feel cold in the winter. It seems to me that modernization has allowed ourselves to become very isolated from nature and the raw world around us, and thus “nature” in a broad sense, is what stays with me and underlies my creative creations to this day.
When I create, I start from the ground up. I cut the wood, build my own frames, stretch the canvas, gesso, build, layer, insert leaves, twigs, etc.
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All of this tangible building and creating process is the art. It's not just the finished product that makes my paintings what they are, but it's the process of creating them that gives them the layered, etched, time honored look.
I insert natural-born items into my work, such as leaves, twigs, grass, and found objects, and then work the canvas over and over, adding AND subtracting (starting over numerous times on one painting). When I can, I paint outdoors to further this collaboration with my work and the earth. I paint mostly in the abstract and my work soaks up the colors from nature, with lots of brick reds, browns, sage and ocher.
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I graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls with a BFA degree in Graphic Design and Painting, and I currently work at Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company in Dubuque , Iowa , as a Senior Marketing Associate. I've shown my work at the Rocco Buda Arts Gallery, Outside the Lines Art Gallery, and the Main Gallery in Dubuque , Iowa .
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Last but not least, I'm proudly dedicated to the Martial Arts being a 1st Gup red belt in Tang Soo Do at the Dubuque Karate Club. The dedication of accomplishing goals I never thought previously possible (pre-karate) plays into the accomplishments I've felt in the creative area of my life. I now understand that I can never stop learning, loving, living, and continually growing, in art, and in life. |
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