Janna Dorothy started experimenting with collage in early 2015. After many years drawing and painting in a meticulous photo-realistic style, the immediacy of collage felt liberating. Combining images of nature, the cosmos and humanity dovetailed nicely with the exploration of dreams, archetypes, philosophy, and current events.
Janna approaches collage as another form of painting. She works completely by hand with vintage pictures collected from thrifted books and magazines. Matching colors and textures in clippings helps create dreamlike yet believable new scenes. Remixing pictures of random far away places feels both like divination and interconnection.
Many indigenous cultures view the dream world as significant. According to activist Derrick Jensen, people who believe this often also see the Earth as a living being, an organism with consciousness and a soul. The West forgot or rejected this viewpoint long ago, which Jensen connects to the West pushing the planet towards ecological collapse. After all, if the Earth is inanimate matter, humans may as well continue exploiting it for profit. But if the world is an organism, alive and embodied with spirit, then humans are not separate from nature. If waking life is as much a dream as the ‘dream world’, then that means that lucidity in either place might help us on the path to wholeness.
Janna hopes her art can shine a light on interconnectedness, interdependence, beauty, and our collective responsibility for the Earth and every living thing.
Janna studied art at the Cleveland Institute of Art and finished her BA in Fine Arts at New Jersey City University in 2006. She is featured in the books Making the Cut: World's Best Collage Artists, Vol. 1 (Crookspress, 2017), and Curatorial Vol. 1: Leaders In Contemporary Art, 2019. Janna's art features on Embodied Astrology
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Publications
Curatorial Vol. 1: Leaders In Contemporary Art, Crookspress, 2019
Making The Cut: World's Best Collage Artists Vol. 1, Crookspress, 2017
Fairs
Portland Saturday Market - August 2019 - ongoing
Craftywonderland Art Market - Oregon Convention Center, 2017 - 2019
Renegade Craft Faire, Seattle 2018, Portland 2018
Urban Air Market - Portland, August 2015 & August 2016
Exhibitions
January Show, The Hazel Room, Portland, OR
Elemental Economics, Group show of collaborations with Renee Sills, Matter, Portland, OR
Featured Artist, Frame Central, Beaverton, OR
Belonging - 17th Village Building Convergence Art Show, Emerson Street House , Portland, OR
All Wealth Comes From The Earth: Visual Affirmations, Matter, 811 E Burnside, Portland, OR
Wemake // Express Yourself: A Peaceful Protest, Tillamook Station, Portland, OR
The 16th Village Building Convergence Group Art Show, The Refuge, Portland, Oregon
Northwest Collage Society Annual Juried Show, Seattle, Washington
Works on Paper Exhibition-Benefit, Cuchifrutos gallery/project space, 120 Essex St. NY, NY
Tradition-Transition-Transcend, Perth Amboy Gallery, 211 Front St, Perth Amboy,NJ
Another Last Year, EXPLOSIVO/chashama, 169 Ave C, New York, NY
Vernissage, Chashama, 217 East 42nd St, New York, NY
Under 21, Gallery 21, 611 McCarter Hwy, Newark, NJ
Apathy & Extremism, The Gallery, New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ,
Faces and Places, Justice William Brennan Courthouse, Jersey City, NJ,
Awards
Northwest Collage Society Winter Award, Sew, Annual Juried Show, Seattle, WA, 2016
Karen Meyers Zaccardi Award for Artistic Excellence, New Jersey City University, May 2005
Education
BA: Fine Arts: Drawing and Painting, magna cum laude, New Jersey City University, August 2006
Foundation Program, Cleveland Institute of Art, 1998 - 2000
Ramstein American High School, Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, 1994-1998
Jan 2020
Dec 2017
Jun 2017
May - Jun 2017
Nov 2017
Jun 2016
Jan - Mar 2016
Mar 8 - 15, 2008
Feb - Apr 2008
Jan - Feb, 2008
Feb 2007
Dec 06 - Jan 07
Sep - Nov 2006
Apr - May 2005