Artist and Teacher Janel Williams opens show

Black Canyon Elementary School Art teacher Janel Williams will be featured at Soda Springs Floral’s gallery site for the next several weeks.  Marie Crane, artist and owner of the shop, hosted a weekend opening for the watercolor and acrylic paintings of the artist in the shop.  Among those who showed up to greet the artist were members of the public, fellow artists, friends, family, and even at least one of her portrait subjects.

William lives in Grace, where she works as both an art teacher as well as a reading specialist.  She likes introducing her students to different mediums, as well as art history and different styles from around the world.  Each class at the school has an art class once a week, so she gets to know students from a range of ages and skill levels.

Two of her students showed up at the gallery to say hello during the morning.  “They saw the posters at the school, and said ‘oh, your name’s Janel?’” she laughed.  “They know me as Mrs. Williams.”

She also teaches RTI, which refers to Response to Intervention, a method of identifying and aiding students who have difficulty reading.  As a result, she is very comfortable talking about communication, and art as a form of expression.  She explained that her interest in art itself was initiated by teachers in her past.

Williams grew up in Rockford, in Bingham County. “I went to Snake River High School, and I took every art class they had.  Before that I had a junior high art teacher who was a professional water color artist who took me under her wing, and showed me extra techniques.   

“I painted around a little bit when my kids were little, but it wasn’t until they got older that I decided to get back into it.”  She started by painting vegetables from a catalog while listening to her husband prepare for soil health workshops for the NRCS he presented at.  “I think I picked up the catalog because I was leaving and I thought ‘I need something to paint—and there’s all kinds of stuff in here!’”  

Her husband’s cousin, artist Ted Nuttall, invited her to take a course in painting in Scottsdale, where his studio is.  “That’s when I learned how to do portraits.  Before, I’d paint somebody with a hat tipped down or something, trying to avoid painting the face.  I learned to use a lot of light layers.  Watercolors are a lot more forgiving than people think.  If you do it light enough, you can often paint over it if you need.”

It’s lucky for everyone that she received the training for faces, as they are some of the most evocative pieces in her collection.  Her technique is impressive, and she does an excellent job of capturing the people she paints in moments that seem to capture their personality.  

“Most everything I paint has some kind of meaning for me—some kind of reason why.  I have painted some things people have asked me to, but mostly it’s because I’m drawn to it,” Williams said.

One of the paintings is of a former art student of hers, who passed away tragically at a young age.  Another painting of a young girl is a depiction of one of the young women from her church group who had moved away, and had told her that she was the best thing about living in Grace.  “I was thinking about the section in Revelations where it talks about the mustard seed growing to support a nest, and how that can apply to people and she popped into my head.”

Other paintings include an acrylic painting of her grandfather with a team of horses, an illustrated recipe for her grandmother, a picture her sister had taken at the state fair of a rider carrying an American flag on horseback, and a painting of her children’s cowboy boots
from childhood.

Another of her acrylic paintings depicts a pioneer ancestor from the Willie and Martin  Company.  There are no pictures of her in existence, so Janel used her own daughter as a model for the piece.

A more recent watercolor is of her daughter, who is on a mission to Portland right now.  She depicted her and her companion taking a loaf of bread to a house.  

Her most recently completed painting is of her husband and son when he was much younger.  “I took this picture when we were trailing our cattle home from the Chesterfield range in the fall.  Our kids have kind of grown up working cows and helping out.  And now that little three year old is fourteen, and super helpful.  I wanted to paint this for a while, but I didn’t think I could.  After I painted some other portraits, I said ‘Okay, I’m ready.’  This represents how much my husband loves all of his kids.  My husband asked me why I didn’t find a better model, and I told him that then it wouldn’t mean as much,” Williams said.

The painting is also her favorite, as she explained that “whatever I’ve been working on is my favorite.”

“When I paint someone, I just look at them for so long, staring at their face and thinking about them,” she said.  

One of her subjects visited the gallery to say hello, and the two had a lively chat.  Janel recounted the origin of the painting.

“‘I’m going to paint you, Kel,’ I told him.  “I ran into him outside the courthouse in the winter when it was snowing and I wanted to get a picture.  But he just kept talking, and I told him I was going to have to paint him with his mouth open.”  Keller Crane is a local artist, and Janel met him during her time on the Caribou County Fair Board, where she helped put up the
art displays.  

“You do great work, kid,” Keller said on his way out the door.

Williams smiled and stated that she liked working on the Fair Board. “I did it for about four or five years.  So my kids also kind of grew up at the fair, too.” 

Janel primarily paints from pictures, as “I have a lot of detail in them, so I can’t usually do it outside.  I’ve been using my kitchen table, which I like.  My son says it gets in the way of his eating cereal,” she laughed.

During the art show, Williams will be selling prints of her paintings, Christmas cards, and some of her originals.  “Some of them are family members or other people that I don’t want to sell, but a lot of them are ones people can buy.”

As Janel will be busy at her day job during most of the show, art can be purchased through Marie Crane, or by taking one of Janel’s cards to contact her directly.

The exhibit will be in place until at least the end of October.