Artist Janis Woode was born in Prince Rupert, British Columbia in 1962. She obtained college certification as a long term care aide and spent the next three decades at various jobs in the health care field. She also received formal artistic training in the handling of materials, first at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1985 and later at Capilano College. Her work with metal, which originated at Emily Carr, triggered a desire to learn to weld which opened the door to articulate her artistic vision. She has worked in metal ever since.

Janis credits her long work experience in health care as the source for many of her artistic inspirations. She says, “This work has given me special insight into the human experience. My hope is that my sculpture draws a common thread for the viewer, a thread that ties us together as people no matter how individual our experiences may be.”

 

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The desire to create art has been with me for as long as I can remember. It satisfies a kind of primal urge to construct. The winding of the figures, for me, is a very intimate experience. It is where I try to translate the emotion or movement of the piece. My inspiration has always come from personal experience. During my working years in health care, I have been witness to turbulence and tenderness. My sculptural work represents these moments. It is a sort of communication that I find hard to put into words. They are, for me, small windows into shared experiences.