About
Janie Paul is an artist and Emeritus Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art and Design (Stamps School). She worked with Buzz Alexander to develop the Prison Creative Arts Project and in 1996 they organized the first Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners. Since then, she has been the Senior Curator of the yearly exhibition. For many years, Janie taught Art Workshops in Prisons, a class in which college students facilitate weekly art workshops in prisons and juvenile facilities. For this work, and her creation of Detroit Connections, which brings students to Detroit elementary schools to teach art, she has received many awards including the University of Michigan’s Diversity Award and the Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship. Currently she is working on a book about the art and the artists of the Annual Exhibition. Janie’s painting is simultaneously influenced by her community work and serves as a source for it. Her art, which includes oil and encaustic painting, drawing and printmaking, is rooted in a long-standing connection to nature.She exhibits her work at the Blue Mountain Gallery in New York City.
