Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
Folk Art Painting Demonstrated by Janice Harding Owens at Kentucky Artisan Center

On Saturday, March 25, Janice Harding Owens of Mt. Vernon, will demonstrate Folk Art painting from 10:30 am – 3:30 pm at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.

As a native of Rockcastle County, Janice Harding Owens comes from a family of creative quilters and painters. In the l980’s she was painting the wood crafts that her husband Ron made. Eventually Janice began to paint on boards and in 1989 painted her first canvass with acrylics. Folk Art collector John Irvin saw Janice’s work and arranged for her to have her first exhibition of paintings at Central Bank in Lexington in 1991.  She has since had painting exhibitions all over the country in Washington, D. C., Connecticut, and Wisconsin among others.

With children in her household, Janice chose to work with water based acrylic paints to avoid the smell of oil paints and to achieve a fast drying process. Often Janice bypasses sketching the painting first and goes right to the paint. She comments, “Sometimes I just go at it with the paint, by the time I sketch something in, I could have painted it!”

Her favorite subject is landscapes. While commissioned paintings require Janice to follow an actual image, her own landscapes might have a horse painted next to a building she saw in a magazine. Janice looks at photographs and other images as a reference point, and then juxtaposes them together in her own unique way.

Works by Janice Harding Owens are regularly available at the Kentucky Artisan Center located just off located just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 (Berea). The Center’s exhibits, shopping, and travel information areas are all open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the café from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. The Center currently features works by more than 680 artisans from all across the Commonwealth. For more information call 859-985-5448 or visit the Center’s web site at www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov 

The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Commerce Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.