Janet Mitchell was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta. She was adopted as an
infant by a Calgary couple and attended school in Calgary. She worked as
a chambermaid at the Palliser Hotel, took evening classes at the
Provincial Institute of Technology and Art (now the Alberta College of
Art), attended a
seminar at the University of Saskatchewan and in 1942 attended the Banff
School of Fine Arts on a scholarship. She was, however, largely
self-taught. Before taking
up painting full time, she worked at Calgary's federal income tax
office, 1940-1962.
A
painter of landscapes, streetscapes and delightful people in watercolour,
oils and acrylics, she tended towards impressionistic interpretations in
a very creative way. Her work is colourful and spontaneous, and noted
for its combination of humour, fantasy and colour.
She first exhibited her work in 1947. Her first one-woman show was held
in Toronto in 1949. She received a number of awards for her watercolours
and in 1977 was accepted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Mitchell
was commissioned by Reader’s Digest of Canada and the Montreal Club to
paint the John F. Kennedy Rose for the Rose Festival at Expo ‘67, in
Montreal. She was a member of the Canadian Society of Watercolour
Artists. She was also an active and influential member of the Alberta
Society of Artists.
She held
several one-person shows. Her work is represented in many collections
across Canada, such as the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Glenbow
Museum, University of Calgary, the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa),
and the London Public Library and Art Museum.
The lino-block
prints, we offer in the gallery, were designed by Janet but printed by
prominent Alberta Printmaker John Snow.
John was a good friend of Janet’s.
The prints were developed as part of a limited edition included
with the Collector’s Edition of Peggy Armstrong’s book: Janet
Mitchell. Life and Art. (Hyperion Press, 1990).
