In an increasingly complicated word, the mind seeks a resting place. In my view, the best of art is visual meditation, bringing the viewer into another place, creating a window to another possibility. I seek to find the images that lead me through that window, into a place of understanding, communion, exploration, fun and deeper meaning. As an artist, it is my task to bring back and share what I discover there.

I’ve always been drawn to faces – human and animal. My most satisfying work captures an expression, a posture that communicates something of the life within. I find a connection to the mystery of life when I work with animal images, portraying a life that I can only attempt to understand from outside of it, and yet which enlivens something in my spirit. And more and more I am fascinated with mythical, spiritual images of women, perhaps in response to my own seeking for a deeper self-identity, one that may extend beyond this 21^st century body and into a vaster past and a kinder future.

About the Medium of Collage

Choosing to work in the medium of collage comes from my love of painting combined with a fascination with textured and printed papers of all sorts and sources. The word “collage” is derived from the French “coller”, to paste or glue. Expressions in the medium have blossomed since Picasso first did his collages in the early 20^th century, leading to a growing use of collage by prominent artists like Rauchenberg and Hockney. In my current work, I am literally “painting with paper”, tearing and cutting the colors and shapes and applying them as I would paint, to create an image, convey a thought, share a vision. Paper becomes color; text or calligraphy become messages or abstract design elements, patterns become texture. The whole becomes an exploration of its parts returning to comprehend it again as an single image.

For more informaiton, visit her website at
www.JanetBlackFineArt.com