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Janice Udell The process of making art is never static. Sometimes I believe that art lives by destroying itself. You have to go through one door to get to the next and if that means revealing the last door as a deception or illusion, then so be it. Excerpt from artist statement in AGNL Permanent Collection Artist file. Janice Udell was born in St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1954. After completing high school, Udell attended the College of Trades and Technology in St. John's, where she earned a diploma in commercial art in 1972. She furthered her studies at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design from which she graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in 1978. She taught art in Halifax for a year before moving to Toronto. Even though she would spend eight to ten hours a day drawing, she still found time to study Renaissance art, an influence that lends her work a distinctive quality. In 1981, when she was still virtually unknown, she had her first solo exhibition in Montreal.
Udell achieves astonishing detail using graphite on paper through the technique of crosshatching. She covers the surface of the paper with a layer of close-knit lines going in one direction, then another layer in another direction, over and over. Some critics have claimed that her style of working falls more within the domain of painting rather than that of drawing because of the intricacy and tonality of her crosshatching technique. Udell also makes lithographic prints.
Udell's art work can be found in numerous private and public collections including that of the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador; The Canada Council Art Bank; Galerie Elca, London; and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Udell continues to live and work in Newfoundland.
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