Artist's Statement
For two years, I have painted landscapes of the places that helped heal me from a grief I can not begin to describe. As I paced through local forests, I came to find some solace in the play of light on leaves and bark. The jumbled chaos of the forest floor felt like a reflection of my thoughts. But with more and more undistracted time in the woods, I started to feel grateful for the logic of trees. They make botanical as well as psychological sense, and despite looking arbitrarily composed, every bit of them is reasonable and justified. The twists and turns of branches reaching for light, the textural diversity, the death of one right near another that continues to thrive; something about all of that gave me clarity that I couldn't find elsewhere.
Rather than fear what lies in shadow, this body of work proposes we step into it, embracing the refuge it offers from overstimulation, emotional burden, and constant visibility.
Bio
Janet Stoeke was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She was raised by an artist (her mother) and an engineer (her father) in Simsbury, Connecticut. After attending Colgate University, she went to George Washington University to pursue an MFA in painting. She is the author and illustrator of 26 children's books, but her interest in painting led her back to the easel. Intertwining realism with abstraction, Stoeke assembles her compositions from memories of her childhood in New England. Her tessellated skies and landscapes create a shimmering surface that depicts the magical display of light in a woodsy environment.
