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Artist creates with many mediums

First solo show displays diverse work
Kyle Wells

If it’s true that idle hands are the devil’s playground then Janelle Huber must be some kind of saint.

With her first solo art show on display at Manzanita Restaurant until early April, Huber is excited, and a little nervous, to be sharing the results of her forays into multiple mediums of expression. Huber’s art takes on many forms, including acrylic painting, silk screens, crocheting, linocuts and more and she will be displaying examples of most during her show.

Fidgety hands are the main source of Huber’s inspiration. She comes from a long line of relatives who work with their hands. Her father is a mechanic, her mother quilts, one aunt bakes, another paints and yet another is a seamstress. Huber’s grandmother, June Huber, lived in Lund starting in the 1960s and taught art at Powell River’s Malaspina College, now Vancouver Island University (VIU). Just like her extended family, Huber has trouble not fiddling around with something and keeping her hands busy.

“I’m not exactly sure why, my hands get bored or something,” said Huber. “I get fidgety and I need something to do...I have to do something with my hands.”

Art came into Huber’s life during high school, where after taking an art class she became addicted to painting, sewing and home economics classes. She completed a two-year visual arts program at VIU, then called Malaspina College, in Nanaimo and has been working odd jobs while progressing with her art ever since. She returned to Powell River in February 2010 and has been focused on her multi-platform approach to art.

Her grandmother died when Huber was ten and their styles often differ, with Huber’s grandmother taking more of a realist approach, but the lineage is still there. As with her grandmother, nature figures heavily into Huber’s work, a theme she attributes to growing up around it in Powell River. She said camping and swimming and all the outdoor activities she grew up doing still inspire her creations. Her paintings often feature sea life and her colour choices, as bold as they often are, appear inspired by nature.

Objects, natural or not, are often the focus in Huber’s work, whether it be a tree, an apple or a jellyfish. Her work gets up close and personal with whatever it’s featuring, but most often with a sense of fun and playfulness. Huber is currently working on some portraits of apples, for instance, that get in close with the subject but use exaggerated colours and come across almost as a caricature.

Art is becoming mainly a side project for Huber, who is leaving to go to school at Langara College in September to follow a publishing career, but a beloved side project nonetheless. She expressed an interest in incorporating illustration into her publishing exploits and said that art will remain a big part of her life.

“Sometimes I stop for a while, I get stuck or something and I put it away for a few months,” said Huber. “But I always go back to it. I just keep going back to it, that’s all I know.”

Interested readers can visit www.etsy.com/shop/huberink to see and purchase some of her work.