Just because someone's smiling doesn't mean they're not going through something and I
think it's really important those little acts of kindness and those little things that
we can do to make someone feel good or put some joy into their day are so simple yet
so necessary.
My name is Jane Reve McWhorter and I'm from Saskatoon.
I've always lived in Saskatoon but soon I'll be moving to Montreal.
I've travelled from coast to coast of Canada.
I travelled with the carnival for a number of years when I was a teenager and I think
anything where you're exposed to something different or new kind of influences you whether
you're aware of it or not.
I feel like it kind of all overlaps like things you might see in a small town, something
you might not even notice, you might pick up and take with you and I feel like artists
are kind of just like digesting things that they've seen.
I always think it's good to have some kind of art that is really different from what
you're working on especially if you're working on something with the desire to complete it
like say you have a large portrait and you have a deadline to get it done.
It's nice to have something else that you don't care about that when you still need
to be creative but it's just not working over here you can walk over here and do these
weird collages or you know this scribble thing or this challenge or draw like with your left
hand or right hand or whatever.
I usually just start by just starting.
I just think the first layer is important.
I try and get everything on the canvas or paper covered with some kind of paint.
One of my mentors told me your colors look so different when they're next to each other
and it's so true when you have this green on the page and you've perfected the green
and then you add your yellow or your orange that green is going to change and you might
have to change it completely.
So instead of painting all the blue on a piece and having it perfect I like to paint the
entire piece at once and then build up levels.
It's so important to just get out there and try and I used to be petrified to try and
do something new because failing it felt so humiliating but now I realize that you're
not failing you're getting something from it and I don't really think there's I think
the biggest failure is just not doing anything.
Going through Sky Observing Canvas project really pushed me to move forward.
Not only did I get like a very immersive technical skill building sort of segment of the program
but I got a lot of people kind of pushing me and mentors who when I asked them what's
wrong with this piece they wouldn't be afraid to like tell it like it is and let me know.
Someone said to me don't worry about linking all the art back to your style because anything
you do is your style because you've made it.
I've done a lot of focus around working with art as a tool for rehabilitation and helping
people learn to love themselves and helping people build confidence using art as a tool
and I think it works because art is very healing for those that like it and enjoy it and I
think it's important to work with your hands and find something that lets your mind breathe.
I think what art can do for people who are kind of marginalized is help them see that
they're capable which in turn gives them confidence in a way and I think the more confident you
become the more you feel your worth and the more you feel your worth the more positivity
you expect kind of because you have higher standard of what you deserve.
I think art is just like a stepping stone for those who need it to kind of move up and
move forward.
In the past what art has done for me is it's really helped me find myself in just the way
that it was one of the first things that I remember doing and just feeling like excited
and other people would look at it and tell me it was good and I was still at a place
where I virtually had zero self esteem and was in a really dark place and I was nowhere
ready to like start loving myself and all that but it was kind of the beginning block
was just this little thing I saw.
I made something and it was cool to me but then it was cool to other people and that
was exciting and then from there I kept going.
It's nice to have an ability that you didn't have just because you decided to do it a lot
you know and other people recognize that you have skill and ability and you're like yeah
I do and I've worked hard for it you know and I know I have a long way to go still but
I think I have drive to keep going.
I think I'm always just trying to learn and do studies as I do art but where I am as an
artist overall I feel lost because I haven't had time really to just focus in and figure
out where I want to go and what I want to do.
I don't know I feel like I'm in a crossroads right now originally art kind of helped me
figure out who I was and then I kind of challenged myself by taking on a lot of things and went
down a bunch of different paths with art and I hope to continue it but right now I don't
really feel like I know I'm an artist kind of but also I feel sometimes like I'm without
direction and I think it's terrifying like I'm terrified to move across the country
but I think we need to challenge ourselves and last year I got an amazing opportunity
to teach the urban canvas project five years after I was in it and it was so amazing and
it really helped me push myself, take a leap, try something different.
I challenged myself in a few different ways and the biggest one being applying to Concordia.
I'm out there I'm kind of an open book if people talk to me I think it's important to
share experience because not just to teach someone else my experience but maybe to make
someone feel like they're not alone.
