Janice Mason Steeves

Poem Series: 10110  12x12" oil/cold wax on panel © Janice Mason Steeves 2010 My exhibition, Poems from the Moon Garden opened on Friday night at Abbozzo Gallery in Oakville, Ontario.   The show continues until November 7th.  Here are a few of the installation shots before and during the show. Abbozzo Gallery Owner- Ineke Zigrossi With artist friend, Shirley Williams on the right My painting of the past several years has been strongly influenced by the archetypal concept of pilgrimage.  This current work has increasingly become more experimental and exploratory, turning inward and moving toward abstraction.  As I began this body of work, I decided to drop all my known reference points—to step off the edge of what is familiar to me.  In Buddhism, this attitude of setting aside, for the time being, preconceived ideas, beliefs and expectations is known as 'beginner's mind". Beginner's mind is like a child’s mind, just present to explore and obse...

This past weekend my studio was filled with nine enthusiastic and industrious artists learning about the cold wax/oil process.  The air was filled with excitement.  The artists ranged from those with almost no experience at all to professionals, so I had a lot of explaining to do! One of my goals was to encourage the artists to play, to experiment with a new technique and just let go.  So often we get hung up on goals, on making a product, on being 'perfect'. I read to them from Eric Maisel's book, " Coaching the Artist Within " , where he talks about the creative process. "To create, we have to take the bad with the good.  We're bound to write bad paragraphs along with good ones.  That's the eternal law.  We can get rid of those bad paragraphs later on , but first we must write them.  Otherwise we won't write anything at all .  If we try to write only the good paragraphs, we are three-quarters of the way toward paralysis.  The name that ...

I'm having fun experimenting with making cold wax and oil monotypes on paper and had some interesting results today.  Although my work has become very non-objective this summer, these monotypes seemed to work well with an image. I was teaching this technique in my workshop and have decided to experiment further with it.                                 ©2010 Janice Mason Steeves "The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves." Carl Jung

This past weekend I had a wonderfully enthusiastic and intense group of students for my Oil and Wax workshop at my studio.  Here are some images of the studio cleaned up for the workshop, with some of my new work on the walls. I've been working long, long hours, almost obsessively this summer, creating a new body of work that is becoming non-objective. It's been an incredibly powerful summer of work.  I read once in the book, "A Prayer for Owen Meany " by John Irving.....and this is not a quote but a remembering...that if you stand in the way of the gods, they will go with you.  I feel like I have been swept along this summer in a wind so strong that I've had no choice but to go with it.  I'm getting ready for my show at Abbozzo Gallery in Oakville which opens October 22nd. But meanwhile it was a fabulous class here at the studio.  Much sharing and learning happened and some really exciting work was produced. We talked during the workshop about the d...

The group show, Modern Works/New Artists opened on Friday June 19th at Agnes Bugera Gallery in Edmonton, Alberta .   I couldn't be at the opening but Edmonton friends took this photo for me.  Here's a closeup shot of the painting in the window.           Night Garden 15 42x48" Oil/wax on panel   ©2010 Janice Mason Steeves  I am embedding a Rumi poem in many of the pieces.  One of the poems I love is entitled, “Bend, Tend, Disappear“ from the book The Illuminated Rumi , translated by Coleman Barks.   "This is how you change when you go to the orchard where the heart opens: You become fragrance and the light that burning oil gives off."  

 I am delighted to say that Agnes Bugera Gallery in Edmonton, Alberta is now representing my work.  Four of my recent paintings will be part of a group show called:  Modern Works-New Artists , which opens on Saturday, June 19th. Here is a close-up of the piece that is on the invitation:                  Night Garden 8 24x24" Oil/wax on panel   ©2010 Janice Mason Steeves This painting will also be in the exhibition:             Night Garden 10 24x24"  Oil/wax on panel ©2010 Janice Mason Steeves

Kamaria ©2010 Janice Mason Steeves oil/wax on panel My exhibition, Night Garden , opened at Wallace Galleries in Calgary, Alberta on Saturday, April 24. The show runs until May 8th. I flew out to Calgary for the opening. This very beautiful gallery with its floor to ceiling glass wall is located in downtown Calgary at 500-5th Avenue S.W. All of the paintings in the exhibition can be viewed on the Wallace Galleries website or my website . The day was beautiful and balmy in the morning but just after the show opened at 2pm, the weather turned. It began to rain. Shortly afterward the temperature dropped and it started to snow! Big, fat wet snowflakes. A couple of days later, Calgary was hit with 40cm of snow. I was grateful that it didn't happen during my opening. I have lots of family in western Canada and almost all of them came to Calgary for the opening- from Edmonton, Vernon, Salmon Arm, Red Deer and Winnipeg . And old friends came...