|
|
| Janet Turner |
Janet Turner, longtime professor of art at CSU, Chico, was nationally and internationally recognized as a printmaker. At her death in 1988, she bequeathed to us a splendid heritage of her own work and that of many other artists. She also left a great legacy of artistic understanding to her many students. Janet Turner: Mentor/Artist/Educator, currently at the Turner Art Gallery, features works and commentary by her former students.
Turner was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 7, 1914. She had planned to major in biology at Stanford University, but she discovered that biology was not a field open to women at that time, so she settled for botany, and eventually graduated in 1936 with distinction in Far Eastern History. After travel to the Far East, Turner returned to school at the Kansas City Art Institute, due, in large part, to the lack of work created by the depression.
Her first appointment was as an assistant professor of art at a small college in Texas. During that time she exhibited her work and began experimenting, backed by a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1952, with combining linocuts and serigraphy for making prints of Gulf Coast flora and fauna.
Turner became part of the renaissance in fine art printmaking and used printmaking to express a lifelong love for nature. After coming to Chico State in 1959, Turner's work centered almost entirely on wildlife themes. Her love of nature had been fostered in her childhood at nature camps on Cape Cod and by her early study of botany.
In a 1976 lecture, Turner said of her creative urge: "These paintings and prints, as well as many others, have served many of my purposes for producing creative art. The need to express my awe of the wonders of the natural world, fascination with the intricate balances of natural forces, the felt need to integrate various segments of my experiences compelled this work."
Turner died in 1988 of cancer. At her memorial service, John Ayres, chair of the Art Department at the time Turner was hired, describes Turner, herself, as a work of art, "In this work one finds unquestioned creativity, dedication, discipline, and artistic stature, achieved within a framework of dignity, compassion, gentleness and love for all living creatures."
The works and commentary of her students echo this representation of this teacher and artist who had such deep influence on those she taught. The exhibition runs through November 1.
KM/DA