JANET MENDYK

ARTIST BIO

The name Northern Arts encompasses the careers I have had: jewelry design, faux decorative arts painting, and the design and reproduction of paintings and prints for fine art trade shows. I can work both 2d and 3d however my main course of study was painting. After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design I worked as a colorist for epoxy painting jewelry companies. Because I could carve 3d, I was able to render volumetric drawings in the format of scaled jewelry drafting. I learned to solder which lead to model making, the master model needed for manufacture. As a freelance artist I worked under the following labels; Avon, Sara Coventry, Sears, JC Penny and the QVC Home Shopping Network. During this time I maintained a studio in the old fabric mill buildings of Providence RI. I worked for Vincent LaFazia at the Decorative Arts Workroom learning the technique of faux painting. My work was displayed at the Boston Design Center. Three commissioned paintings were at the Eisenhower Mansion in Newport RI. When I moved to the south west I worked for the Phoenix Art Group reproducing fine art paintings. We were given an 8 x 10 photo to paint 36” x 48” on canvas. Once large scale, there were areas that had to be created. Rule one was to let go of my personal subjective pallet and use the pallet of the original artist. The popular, interior design trends changed seasonally. I started designing paintings and again freelancing. I worked for Chrishawn of Bradenton, FL and Creative Fine Arts of Atlanta, GA. They sold at art expos and trade shows; International Home Furnishing Center (IHFC) Highpoint, NC, Dallas Market, Dallas World Trade Center. This time the paintings held my signature. It was a different intellectual level of self expression. There is a given box of prerequisites, then you think outside of the box, making it your own. What was experimental has now become my tools. The faux painting led to five murals in private homes. Currently I have a beeswax candle business called Northern Arts. My jewelry background has allowed me to tool metal into templates and plates that emboss wax. Although my careers were in several directions, I never stopped painting. The accumulation of thirty years of skills is blending. I am a multi-media artist and designer. I accept any challenge and embrace future painting.