Stranger Than Fiction is the title of a new show at the Blue Moon Café of acrylic on wood paintings from prolific Sechelt artist Janice Williams.
"I'm just kidding," says Williams, also known by her artist's name of Junco Jan. "My paintings aren't as strange as my fiction." But they are every bit as funny, involving text and cartoon-like characters depicted in colourful poses, employing the visual puns that have become her trademark. Her subject matter - gardening, dogs, cats, human foibles - is humorous and what her fans love about her work.
Among the 40-odd paintings are guest appearances from elephant women in bright pink, two mango addicts enjoying their fruit, Guzzle and Gobble and their progeny, small pets doing unusual things and a meat loaf that's tired of loafing and has begun to tug the lettuce around for recreation. The paintings are reasonably priced between $20 and $40. "Even I could afford to buy my own art," Williams laughs.
For her, art must be a joy; she won't work under pressure of commissions. Her materials are recycled or cast-off, in irregular shapes, a factor that she integrates into the picture, rather than cutting the pieces to conform. She scrubs the old bits of plywood, sun-dries them, then paints a primer base. After that, everything that appears on this rough canvas springs in a rush from her lively mind. There are no finishing touches or repainting. Some pieces bow to principles of good composition; others don't bother. Most make a point, however bizarre.
Beneath the first chuckle, there's often another layer to Junco Jan's art, another way of looking at the world. Where do these unusual ideas come from? The novice gardener theme is one she comes by honestly through her mother Audrey Williams, whose Gibsons' home flourished with blooms almost year round, and from sister Liz Williams, whose flowered houseboat is also legendary. Six years ago, when the artist first arrived at her Sechelt home, she turned to her mother for gardening advice. Audrey taught her daughter how to collect, dry and store seeds, listing off dozens of flower names such as bachelor's button, love-in-a-mist and baby's breath as suggestions for planting. Also during that time, Williams learned to feed the junco birds that befriended her, then adopted the name Junco Jan. It's a pun too, given that her recycled art can be considered out of the junkpile, but there's no joke about the often painfully shy artist feeling a deep connection with plants, animals and birds.
Some of the paintings are irreverent, poking fun at religion. St. Dude the Obscure depicts a gum-chewing average guy. That's just the point, Williams says. "It's a celebration of a humble guy, not a saint," Williams said. Another painting suggests that at the entrance to the pearly gates the ascending soul might find that God will appear in the shape of the gardener's nemesis, a dandelion. Williams struggles with that idea - what God really is - even in her funnier pictures. "God is everywhere," she points out, "even in the dandelions." Williams is really excited about one feature of this show. In a prime spot at the café, underneath a painting of a seed pod collection gone wild, stands a mega jar of live seeds, plus some smaller packets. Everyone who wants will get a free bag of seeds, but for a chance of winning the "Seeds to the Infinite Power" jar, visitors must drop a looney into the donation tin to be raffled at the end of the show. All proceeds from this tin go towards the Red Cross to assist tsunami survivors.
"It's a great way to feed many birds with one hand," she says, "by flowering up the Coast, making me feel good and helping out an iota in that horrific, world-altering catastrophe."
The tiny Blue Moon on Cowrie Street changes shows once a month. Just before Williams' show went up, artist Jan Jensen's show had come down. Jensen, an artist in shells, rocks, paint and wire, sold seven pieces in December. She pointed out that the coffee shop is more accessible than a gallery, especially for repeat customers, to study her more meditative abstract pieces. "This is a great place for art," agrees Williams, who has shown there before and will keep Stranger Than Fiction up through January. The Blue Moon is open Mondays to Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
