Janette Maxey

Janette Maxey is a visual artist specializing in painting and drawing. She was born in San Bernardino, California and raised in Connecticut where she currently lives in Middletown. Her degrees include an AS in Fine Art from Tunxis Community Technical College and a BFA in Painting from The Hartford Art School/University of Hartford. Before finishing her BFA, she studied abroad through the University of Georgia in Cortona, Italy. Most recently she was awarded a residency to Vermont Studio Center and a grant through the Middletown Commission on the Arts. She is a participant in The Urban Artists Initiative (UAI) and is a past recipient of a UAI studio residency at the Farmington Valley Arts Center. Her work has been exhibited at Ely Gallery, The Hygienic Gallery, Manchester Community Technical College, Charter Oak Cultural Center, ArtSpace, and The Institute for Community Research. Additionally Janette is available for commissions including portraiture, and murals.

The undertone of my current work describes the societal issues of want, need, and abandonment. Through intimate moments of life, they reveal the simplicity and complexity of human existence. For me, these paintings speak of inherent beauty and hope, even in a chaotic and depressing environment. I am interested in the stories people show through the deliberate accumulation, and passive abandonment, of possessions. And likewise, a loss of sense of self invested in the owning and disowning of materials.

The house I grew up in, built by my Italian grandfather in 1945, contains 3 generations of belongings and the neglected clutter. From the time I was small I was fascinated by tools, kitchen utensils and knick-knacks from this house. These items reveal different parts of my family as any family, emotionally, such as the sadness and humor of a discarded project, physically, like a dangerously placed tool or object, and formally, as a painted surface rich with color, texture and layered meaning. I am interested in the stories people tell through the amassing of accoutrements in their everyday lives while articulating the concept of personalities.