Janet Brown
317-507-7365 janet.s.brown@gmail.com
Artist's Statement
Through capturing photographic imagery from personal sacred space, dreams, and the natural world, I create my own language of metaphors and special symbolism for my spiritual growth and self-expression. This is visual journaling of what’s important to me and my inner thoughts and ideas are made visible through my technique and my choice of subject matter. I believe we are formed by images and we need to develop a critical intake and understanding of what we are seeing. This, in turn, gives us response and evaluation for mature communication.
There are reoccurring images throughout my work from dreams, spiritual pilgrimages, family, the natural world that are important to me. In my earlier work, I place a special black stone in my compositions. This is an important touchstone of meditation and memory which allows me to be placed in the spiritual spaces that I capture and compose. Light and shadow are also a reoccurring symbolism of personal self-awareness and a source of life otherwise not seen.
My self-expression and creativity are a part of my spirituality. They help me bring meaning to who I am and what I’ve experienced. Theologian Paul Tillich states that the symbolism of art opens up a depth dimension in life. It opens the windows to transcendence and calls for a response in this dimension. Art does not seek only to change one’s perception of the world, but to change one’s life.
Artist's Biography
Janet Brown, LMHC, ATR currently resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. She has a daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter who reside in Virginia. Janet attended Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and received a Masters of Arts in Art Therapy in 2019. She attended the University of Evansville and received a BA in Visual Arts and Communication in 1983.
Janet is currently working for Indiana University Health, Riley Children’s Health, The Charis Center for Eating Disorders as a Behavioral Health Counselor and Art Therapist. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and a Registered Art Therapist affiliated with the American Art Therapy Association and the Indiana Counseling Association. Janet’s work includes adolescent individual outpatient therapy, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient group therapies and program management. She has also developed adolescent outpatient, PHP and IOP therapeutic program curriculum, with a recent 2023 horticultural + art therapy programming grant award from Women for Riley.
Janet was previously the Design Director for WTHR, NBC of Indianapolis and worked in television design for 37 years. Her work includes scenic design, animation, illustration and graphic design for video, print and digital. Janet has been awarded twenty-three Emmys and several other national and regional visual design and community service honors for her work in television art direction.
Janet’s design work has been exhibited in London, New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, WA and Miami, FL through Promax Broadcast Designers Association. Through her position at WTHR, NBC, Janet has worked in design partnership with NBC and CBS television networks, syndicated television companies, national + international agencies and design firms, and central Indiana museums, hospitals, sports organizations, non-profit organizations, and community events.
In community volunteering, Janet is currently a paleontologist technician at the The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and a facilitator of mindful hiking at Eagle Creek Park of Indianapolis. She also served as a Marion County Master Gardener at the Indianapolis Museum of Art Madeline F. Elder Greenhouse. She has been active in youth and adult creative ministries at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis.
Prints of Janet’s work are currently available at janet-s-brown.squarespace.com and at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art in New Harmony, Indiana, The Sullivan-Munce Cultural Center of Zionsville, Indiana, and the The Playful Soul of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Galleries
New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art
506 Main Street, New Harmony, Indiana 47631
812.682.3156
The Sullivan Munce Cultural Center
225 West Hawthorne Street, Zionsville, Indiana 46077
317.873.4900
The Playful Soul
1001 E 86th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46240
317.253.0499
Exhibitions
The Playful Soul "Reflections From Within-Printmaking by Janet Brown" -Indianapolis, Indiana
The Playful Soul "Dream" Exhibition - Indianapolis, Indiana
University of Evansville Alumni Exhibition-Inaugurational Melvin Peterson Gallery Opening - Evansville, Indiana
Sullivan Munce Cultural Center "Symbolic Allusions" Janet Brown, William Sprague, Joseph Crone -Zionsville, Indiana
Sullivan Munce Cultural Center-"Words Within" - Zionsville, Indiana
New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art Printmaking Exhibition - New Harmony, Indiana
Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis - Indianapolis, Indiana
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods-College Graduate Exhibition- Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana
Marian University Art Therapy Exhibition- Indianapolis, Indiana
Theater-at-the Fort Art Therapy Exhibition- Indianapolis, Indiana
The Indiana Medical History Museum Art Therapy Exhibition - Indianapolis, Indiana
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Art Therapy Exhibition - Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana
Prints Available
Awakening - 18.75"x36" $145
Bridge - 22"x15.5" $100
Despair - 26"x10.5" $85
Eve - 10"x15" $65
Family - 18"x14" $75
Five Staffs - 12.5"x21.75" $75
Judgement - 11"x19" $75
Light - 40"x15" $135
Opening - 26"x13" $85
Carol's Garden - 14.5"x21" $100
Carol's Garden-Fountain -12.5"x30.5" $110
Red Spirit - 12"x20" $75
Seahorses- 14"x20" $75
Silver Spirits- 11"x26" $85
Star Island - 23"x21.5" $110
Sundress - 22.5"x15" $100
Wabash Prayer- 22.5"x14.5" $100
Waterbird- 18"x14" $75
Wings - 23.5"x12" $100
Wisdom Circle - 16"x16" $100
Yellow Magnolia Spirit- 10"x18" $75
Labyrinth- Small Print 15"x32" $100
Large Print 24"x46" $175