JANICE
HUNTER

ABOUT JANICE:

Janice has a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Majoring in Sculpture and Photography) and lives on a small working farm in Victoria. Janice had a slight deviation from full time art practice to raise a family and run a table fruit olive business, although she always contributed to local art shows and prizes. As the family grew more independent, Janice resumed her full time art practice and participated in may exhibitions including Yarra Valley Arts|Yering Station Sculpture Art Prize (finalist), Tesselaar Sculpture Prize and Neerim Bower Sculpture Prize (finalist).

In 2023 Janice completed her first Certificate from “The Sogestu School of Ikebana of Japan”. This course has opened up a whole new way of seeing with respect, admiration and appreciation for Japanese techniques, aesthetics and the language of patterns. Rather than straight forward cultural appropriation, Janice uses the teachings and stories of the Japanese culture in her present work by representing her interpretation of the concepts.

Janice’s current exhibition at WAS Galley in Warragul “Mono no aware” is a Japanese term meaning: “a sensitivity to ephemera, the bittersweet feeling of seeing things change and an awareness of the transitory nature of existence and finding harmony with the impermanent nature of all things”.

The exhibition includes sculptures of foliage and flowers created with paper, wire and reclaimed wood. Collages made from handmade paper of birds and native plants seen on the property. Paintings & sculpture using recovered timber from a Himalayan Cedar

Janice’s works use the timber as a canvas and draw attention on the negative space and the retreating perspective of the painted surface. They are transformed into sculptural pieces with the addition of the cherry blossom and other flowers that represent the beauty, fragility and the” impermanent nature of all things”.

Medium: paper, natural materials, reclaimed timber. buttons, wire, paint
Tags: ikebana sculpture, floral sculpture, paper art, handmade paper art