Janet Eskridge

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    Janet Eskridge spent much of her childhood playing in the woods, where she would arrange sticks, rocks, feathers and pine needles into artistic installations. She enjoys collecting treasures, hiding and re-discovering them. 

    Janet studied early childhood education in North Carolina. Her first and only teaching job was in a rural elementary school, where her students came from homes with dirt floors and had no experience with scissors, paste or paint. She loved watching them discover the joy of making a colourful masterpiece, despite their challenges at home. This sparked an interest in creativity and wellness which lead her to enroll in an art therapy graduate program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn NY. After graduating, she was hired to develop and facilitate a creative arts program at Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha, NE - providing art experiences to patients facing a variety of life-altering health challenges.

    Influenced by her childhood explorations, along with her work in creativity and wellness, Janet now devotes full-time attention to creating mixed media and encaustic assemblages.

    "For me, art making is an intuitive process. I do not have a preconceived outcome in mind when I begin. I start with an empty box, adding and removing objects and images, until I have a sense that they belong together. The space within each box becomes a tiny world that the viewer is invited to enter and explore. I am intrigued by the metaphors of hidden places, layers, and openings. It is my hope that my work will inspire others to question and examine their own private worlds."

    Janet Eskridge - Lincoln, NE