Janelle Feng, an extraordinarily talented visual arts student who studied with Don Portelance in his Art Enhancement program, is passionate about two things: art and history.
Robespierre and the French Revolution
If you’ve ever had the chance to view Janelle’s paintings, you’ll have noticed how her two passions converge: using her unique style, she transports the viewer back to eras like the French Revolution and brings to life historical figures such as Robespierre.
Scholarship Recipient
Janelle is the 2019 recipient of our Fern Bouvier Arts Legacy Award, a scholarship awarded to an advanced Place des Arts student who intends to pursue their arts education at a post-secondary or professional institution. She received this award because she has been accepted into the prestigious California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) where she’ll focus on studying animation starting next month.
Art Studies
Janelle discovered her passion for art at a young age and for many years made art as a hobby. In her early teens, though, she began to take her painting more seriously and started formal studies. She first took lessons in school and with a private academy in Richmond. Then, through her school art teacher, she learned about Don Portelance and the Place des Arts program he teaches for advanced visual arts students. She credits Don with helping her to expand her skills to the level where she now sees herself making a career in the arts.
Janelle says, “Don is a really special teacher because he doesn’t just focus on the technical aspects but teaches you how to critically evaluate your own work. He doesn’t tell us what he thinks but gets us to evaluate ourselves. Don taught me life lessons I can take with me into all my artwork.”
Historical Focus
The subject matter of much of Janelle’s work focuses on her fascination with the French Revolution. First introduced to the conflict through watching a documentary about it, Janelle developed a scholarly interest in it and began further investigation. She says, “The time period is quite misunderstood, so I want to reinterpret it from my personal understanding of it.”
Inspired by Other Artists
Janelle takes inspiration not only from history, but also from the work of other artists. She constantly assesses others’ artwork to see how they might do things differently than she does and, in the process, develops her own practice by using new-found techniques.
Big Dreams
If going to CalArts isn’t exciting enough, Janelle just returned from Paris where she participated in a two-week workshop at Gobelins animation school, one of the foremost colleges for animation in the world! This workshop should prepare Janelle well for her tudies at CalArts, where she plans to focus on character animation, a program the institute is famous for. Her dream is to one day work for Disney or Pixar – big dreams, but ones we have no doubt Janelle will achieve.
Congratulations, Janelle, we’re so pleased that the Fern Bouvier Arts Legacy Award will help you with your tuition. We couldn’t be more excited for you, nor prouder of your achievements.
View more of Janelle’s work on her Instagram feed @smileyfaceorg.