For almost 40 years Janet has created functional and decorative pieces to enhance people’s homes and lives. She has a Diplome d’etudes collegiales en Arts Appliques Ceramiques, from John Abbott College, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, QC and a BFA in ceramics from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, Halifax, NS.

Artist residencies include Banff Centre for the Arts in 1990, A.I.R Vallauris, France in 2013 and Art Lab artist residency in Parrsboro 2016.

It was during her residency in Parrsboro that she fell in love with the community and the landscape and moved here in 2017. Part of the appeal was the abundant local red earthenware clay which she was able to dig from the shores of the Bay of Fundy and which took her clay practice in a new direction. She also found inspiration for both functional work and one-of-a-kind pieces in the rugged shore line of the place that became her home.

Vases became the main vessel for this inspiration. They are inspired in part by the Japanese aesthetic of ikebana and by the rocky cliffs and outcrops that define this amazing shoreline. Of these pieces she says “They are not the pretty vases of tradition; they cannot hold a huge bouquet, like the local landscape they hold a few strong stems, mimicking how vegetation flourishes in this harsh cragginess. Like the local landscape they are a contrast to the lovely flowers and branches that they hold.”

She continues to explore the use of texture and to create a dialogue with the elements in her surroundings. Her most recent work uses found objects like wire, rope, rocks, driftwood, cedar shingles, washers, plants and more; they all become elements to be used to impress the clay with lines, shapes and texture.