Janet Larkman

My mother has a yellowed drawing I did in kindergarten. I’m wearing a beret at an easel — ‘when I grow up I want to be an artist’ is scrawled at the bottom. I went to an art-focused high school in Toronto, where I had the opportunity to study with a professional abstract painter and have my first show at a gallery. I completed a BFA at NSCAD, including a year at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. While I prefer not to be limited by media or genre, I mostly work as a painter with a 3-D sensibility, incorporating materials such as metal, stone, glass, wood and clay. I have always done installation art and often use paintings as elements of installation.

A vital role

I served on the VANS Board for five years (including a stint as President), during which time I saw up close what a vital role VANS plays in advocacy, professional development, networking, promotion, and so much more. Briony and her staff do a brilliant job at advancing the role of visual arts in Nova Scotia.

While on the board, we did the AGM as movable feast, and it was fun hosting it one year in Annapolis Royal. Although VANS Regional shows have run their course, they facilitated some pretty good shows in Annapolis West; we always managed to come up with themes that challenged us. Locally, we are fortunate to have ARTsPLACE as a venue — artists in the Annapolis region are showing and experimenting all the time. VANS’ new program to help support shows is a great resource.

I am a PAINTS instructor and absolutely love working with kids of all ages.  I have taught cartooning in schools throughout western Nova Scotia and Halifax/Dartmouth. The younger kids are especially fearless with their big confident lines.  PAINTS is a great program and thank you VANS for running it —  here’s to more art in the schools!

Like using an angle grinder as a painting tool

According to the Secord Gallery in Halifax, which carries my work, the paintings are ‘characterized by vigorously textured surfaces that emphasize an interest in materials and how their manipulation can heighten visual effect and meaning.’  I have a very physical relationship with material, be it paint or metal or whatever, and tend to think of it all as sculpture. I have an interest in exploring tools, processes and materials, and sometimes this leads to new finds (like using an angle grinder as a painting tool). My work has its roots in social commentary, but this is more evident in the recent series of paintings, having moved from an abstract to a narrative style.

I love working collaboratively and using art as a means to connect with community. I’m part of a group of nine women called the Elephant Grass Print Collective that has started a print-making studio in Parker’s Cove. As a group we are constantly learning and challenging each other with new things to try.

A couple of years ago, I built a new studio with in and outside work spaces.  Having a wide range of tools and materials at the ready, and a galley in which to hang the work, the possibilities feel wide open. It’s very exciting.

Working as a full time maker

After NSCAD I managed Kate Millet’s Art Farm in New York state. There was a tremendous opportunity to collaborate and explore ways to incorporate movement, writing, photography and large drawings into my work. On making my way back to Nova Scotia and settling into rural life near Annapolis Royal, I was always trying to find the balance between making art and making a living.

In my current life, it is a total thrill to be in the studio working as a full time maker. (Building stuff like greenhouses and growing food is almost as much fun as making art.)  I do a variety of other income-generating work connected to the studio, like graphic facilitation, cartooning, and recently taught art at Acadia University. Like most artists, my work waxes and wanes between commercially viable and decidedly not. While it’s definitely an honour when people buy my work and want to live with it, the real reward is knowing that people are moved in some way, or that the work prods some shift of perception about something.

Unbroken

Unbroken is a show of new work with ceramic sculptor Louise Pentz at the Secord Gallery. It runs March 21 to April 19, with an artist talk at the gallery on Saturday April 5th at 2pm. The show addresses women’s strength in the context of oppression.

I was reading women’s stories from around the world —  lives that are confronting injustice, that are courageous, devastating, inspiring, and shattering the status quo. What, I wondered, do I have to contribute to the dialogue? And so I started painting in an attempt to understand inwardly and spiral outwardly, to amplify the conversations and help start some new ones.

There’s a lot more I want to explore on the topic – of particular interest is the paradigm-changing work that is being led by girls. I look forward to challenging myself to deepen this exploration.  I expect my next steps will see the work moving back/forward into more abstract territory, to push my interest in the intersection between painting, sculpture and installation.