Culture
15 MINUTES
THREE DIMENSIONAL Janice King’s art, personality are anything but flat BY DALLAS CARTER • PHOTOS BY ZACH STRAW
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ne word comes to mind when shaking Janice King’s hand for the first time: strength. The 70-year-old is the family matriarch — the third oldest of five siblings (and the oldest surviving sibling), the mother of four sons, and a two-time lymphoma survivor. Born in Chicago to a single mother, King’s life always had an artistic influence. At 7 years old, she won first place in a citywide Chicago Public Schools art competition. Her abstract piece called “Time Square” was displayed in the Art Institute of Chicago. Despite her passion and obvious talent, King’s art was overshadowed by the natural chaos of daily life. “I always liked the arts for as long as I can remember, but when you get in school and you grow up, other things become more important; plus, I became a mom early,” she says. “I went to school and did what I had to do, but the arts kind of took a back seat.” King received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Roosevelt University, Chicago, and went on to work for Fuji Film as a chemist for 31 years. After her husband Maurice passed away in 2000 and she retired in 2008, King moved to Evansville in 2009 to be closer to her two sons. Surviving COVID-19 and now facing her third cancer battle, King has found her way through life’s hardships and back to art. With a signature 3D-style and a display at Twymon Art Gallery, she expresses her personality and proud Black history and culture through each piece.
How and why did you decide to get back into art?
ARTFUL JOURNEY At 19 years old, Janice King had left art behind and was focused on obtaining her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Roosevelt University. Now 70 years old, after a 31-year career as a chemist at Fuji Film, King is an artist once more. Her signature is 3D elements, similar to the flowers in the first painting she did “A Night in Africa.”
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EVANSVILLE LIVING JULY/AUGUST 2021
After I moved back here, I got into jewelry and little things on the side to keep me busy and fill up my time. I’ve been enjoying it and I just love art. Anything that’s art related, I’ll do — make jewelry, wreaths, anything that’s creative. A few years ago, I met a guy and he invited me to have a night to do art, so we went to Dollar Tree and got a bunch of stuff. And I don’t know, something just popped in my head to do it like this. I made one for him called “A Night in Africa.”
