Brief Biography
& Artist Statement |
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Celebration Oregon
ARTIST STATEMENT
Ars longa; Vita brevis est,
Art is long; life is brief
With this famous Latin phrase in mind, my goal is to spend as much time painting as possible.
Living in the high desert, I am fortunate to not only be surrounded by traditional beauty--vast skies, distant mountain ranges, and the subtle colors of sage, sand and juniper, but also some tattered beauty--abandoned sheds, rail yards, old ranches, etc.
Whether I am working with stunning natural beauty, or abandoned beauty, I think that being a painter is the most rewarding life of all!
BIOGRAPHY
Janice Macarthy Druian, lives above the Deschutes River in Central Oregon. From her studio there is an unimpeded view of the Cascade Mountains to the west and the high desert and Ochoco Mountains to the east.
An undergraduate minor in Fine Art (University of California at San Francisco) was followed by a Masters degree in Art Education at the University of Oregon. There she studied with Laverne Krauss, Tom Fawkes and Frank Okada. As a graduate student her work was primarily figurative. Upon moving to Central Oregon, the beauty of the high desert was so compelling that she moved to landscape, and particularly plein air painting.
Learning to be a plein air painter was a lot more difficult than "just going out there and doing it." It has been a humbling journey from being strictly a studio painter to also working in plein air ...dealing with changing light, trying to approximate the values seen in nature, learning to edit and finally dealing with nature itself--the heat, cold, wind and rain. But in the end it is worth it. Janice believes that behind most great landscapes, even detailed ones executed solely in the studio lies a Plein Air painting.
An important part of this journey has been learning from other painters--members of Plein Air Painters of Oregon, and fine teachers like Jean LeGassick, Richard McKinley, Bob Rohm and Morgan Samuel Price. She is also influenced by her art hero, the late Maynard Dixon and current painters, William Wray, Ken Auster, and Jennifer McChristian.
Janice's work is displayed at several galleries in the region. She has also participated in invitational and juried shows in many galleries, colleges and museums.
MEMBERSHIPS:
- Oil Painters of America
- Plein Air Painters of Oregon
RECENT SHOWS/Awards:
2009
- Overlooked Oregon (solo show, Tumalo Gallery)
- The Long View (solo show, Sage Gallery)
- Tarahumara (solo show, Navigator, Sisters, Oregon)
- Celebration Oregon ,Oregon and Northwest Plein Air Show, (High Desert Gallery, Bend, Oregon. Second Place)
- Admitted to Yosemite Renaissance, Yosemite National Park for 2010
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