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Artist Statement for Janas Durkee
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I believe that art is a true universal language, speaking to all walks of life. I believe images can be more powerful than words, because they draw quietly on individual experiences of each viewing person. I strive to tell stories through my paintings.
I am a painter, living in Eugene, Oregon. Prior to moving to the pacific northwest in October 2005, I lived in Indianapolis, Indiana for many years where I concentrated most of my work on depicting beloved family pets. In 2005, I joined a prestigious group of central Indiana artists; I received a grant from the Indianapolis Arts Council for “Creative Renewal”. The fellowship allowed me to travel to Uganda, Africa in May/ June 2006. From that trip, I have produced many images in paint and pastel, and my world perspective has been altered forever.
I am a former teacher for inner city children with emotional handicaps and/or difficult poverty-ridden lives, also having taught children with physical and mental handicaps, blindness and developmental delays and/or autism. Teaching, not unlike parenting, brings out “the obvious” in your character. I have been taught so much by my students about myself and my art, most importantly to live within the process, not the idealism of the end product.
My work is as vivid in content as it is in color. The images are accessible yet well defined commentary on the state of humanness, or dogginess—depending on my subject. My approach and techniques have evolved during the course of my fellowship to a stronger execution with a softer edge in the physical description. I like the truth. I try to share it with my audience through my work. The thing that draws me to creating is that I always learn something new while I am doing it.
I enjoy having the opportunity to have a relationship with my subjects. Even if I am unable to meet them in person, I want to know them, how they live, what is important to them, what makes them laugh, what makes them cry. When I paint the subject, I think about my experience with them, not what color I will use or where a certain line should go, that's automatic. It's why I love to paint dogs, they are so forthcoming about who they are and what they like!
My newest work is about the people living in the cultural shadows—those “without”. With all of the information we have at our fingertips about the world and its people, the one component I find that is missing is the true personal perspective. It is difficult to understand a day in the life of a Ugandan school child who has nothing to eat but the ripening mangoes falling from the trees outside of her classroom—knowing that those, too will be gone in the dry season. Or the plight of a family to feed, clothe and educate their children when they have to walk many miles to the nearest trading center in bare feet or plastic thong shoes, carrying their babies on their backs and their wares on their heads in baskets they made from the reeds growing near their home. Ugandans aren't alone. They share this poverty experience with much of the world's people. But, they feel alone. Their life stories inspire me to paint.
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