Selected Solo Exhibitions
2016 along my journey I carry you along, Philadelphia International Airport; Philadelphia, PA
2013 go to where you can breathe, Fleisher Art Memorial Wind Challenge Exhibition Series; Philadelphia, PA
2011 you make me nostalgic for a place I’ve never known, curator: Amanda Jirón-Murphy, Flashpoint Gallery; Washington, DC
2008 I will find us a path to everything we hope for, Constance S. and Robert J. Hennessy Project Space, DCCA; Wilmington, DE
2007 all our plans that lead back to beginnings, The Hall, Crane Arts Building; Philadelphia,PA
2003 why don’t you take the day off and try to repair, Lancaster Galleries,Lancaster, PA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition 20th Anniversary Retrospective, Main Line Art Center; Haverford, PA
2023 Molt & Morph, Maryland Art Place, curator: Caitlin Gill; Baltimore MD
2022 National Drawing & Print Competitive Exhibitions, Gormley Gallery, Notre Dame of Maryland University, juror: Teri Henderson; Baltimore, MD
2022 Art of the State, The State Museum of Pennsylvania; Harrisburg, PA
2022 Thank you, Peter: UD MFA Students and Alumni Respond to the Work of Peter Williams, The Delaware Contemporary; Wilmington, DE
2021 Garden Sculpture Exhibition, Main Line Art Center; Haverford, PA
2020 Some Place, curator: Lance Winn, Taylor Hall, University of Delaware; Newark, DE
2017 It’s My Party. I’ll Cry if I Want To , curator: Talia Greene, Grizzly Grizzly; Philadelphia,PA
2014 Reprise: 40 to the Fore, curators: Karyn Miller & Judy Byron, Arlington Arts Center; Arlington, VA
2011 (e)merge Art Fair, Flashpoint Gallery, Capitol Skyline Hotel; Washington DC
2010 The New Intimists , curator: Samantha Friedman, NURTUREart; Brooklyn, NY
2009 Soft Space: Architecture in Contemporary Art , curator: Margaret Winslow, Maryland Art Place; Baltimore, MD
2008 Connect to Future Modules , Pool Art Fair, Cavalier Hotel; Miami Beach, FL
2008 My Little / Membrane , curators: Zeljka Himbele-Kozul and William Heath, NURTUREart; Brooklyn, NY
2007 3rd Annual Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition: Across & Between , juror: Matthew Higgs, Main Line Art Center; Haverford, PA
Selected Awards and Honors
2022 Purchase Prize, Gormley Gallery 34th National Drawing & Print Competitive Exhibition, Juror: Teri Henderson
2011 Kitchen of Innovation grant with curator, Amanda Jirón-Murphy
2011 Kickstarter grant with curator, Amanda Jirón-Murphy
2007 Finalist, Miami University National Young Painters Competition for the William and Dorothy Yeck Award, Juror: Jerry Saltz
My current studio work is a result of how I experience time in and out of the studio. I draw whenever I can, and I draw what is in front of me…private interior spaces, friends and family, public and private landscape. When the separate drawings come into the studio, I can then work with them to create connections, tell a story, or capture a moment. The work is often full of pattern and formal design, but imbued with a humanity that hints at nostalgia, wonder, or internal musings.
My sculptural work is calm and subtle. It whispers and invites, and asks you to stop and wait for just a little while. To pause—to notice, to reflect, to cherish, to long. It often plays with the dichotomy of designed spaces and the wobbly and amorphous character of landscape. My work hints at the soft weightlessness of childhood, later bathed in a film of nostalgia.
Janell and her family relocated from Philadelphia to Lancaster PA in 2019 to live next to her sister and fulfill the dream of a cousin commune. She maintains a home-studio where her practice moves fluidly from project to project. Janell received her MFA from the University of Delaware in 2006. She also studied at the Chautauqua Institution School of Art, received a BFA from Millersville University, and studied abroad in Orvieto, Italy with Gordon College. She has participated in the Fabric Workshop and Museum’s Apprenticeship Program, the Cooper Union School of Art Summer Residency Program, the 2014 Fleisher Wind Challenge Series, and the Philadelphia International Airport’s exhibition program. Janell has exhibited her work in many locations including Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Baltimore, Washington DC, and Miami.
Professionally, Janell works as a costumer, an occupation that often seeps into her studio work, formally and thematically. She is the costumer for both the Musical and Dance Theater Productions at Hempfield High School, as well as a freelance costumer for Servant Stage Company.