We recently connected with Janelle Crawford-Hine and have shared our conversation below.

Janelle, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally. 

Ever since I was a child I knew I was an artist. I used to draw instead of talking to anyone at events . It was always something I saw for myself. It is an odd thing to be a child who is drawn to artistic expression. You are simultaneously being celebrated whilst asked to give away your work for free and told that you need to practice your other skills so that you will have something else to survive on. I’m sure that many people in the artistic community have this experience growing up.

So as any rebellious teenager who wants to prove that they can do what they set their minds to, I decided that I was going to go to art school. My parents had taken my moody self on a roadtrip to multiple local liberal arts colleges where I was told that if I had any other interests I should pursue those so that I would never have to financially support myself with my art. I had a friend who was one year older than me had been applying to different art schools and encouraged me to do the same. I thought I had finally found the road to the life I had always dreamed for myself.

Janelle, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

To ensure that I would make money I pursued illustration. I may have been subconsciously following my desire to have my work enjoyed and be in service of the widest audience possible. My dream was to illustrate children’s books like many of my heroes.

So when I was pregnant with my daughter, I started doing linoleum cut (a type of block printing) to make the image for her birth announcement. It turned into a series of animal families that I began to take to craft shows. As I dug in I found that it was really important to me to emotionally connect with people through my work. So I began to push into themes of motherhood and social justice. I began to make detailed linocuts where I would cut them apart and ink the pieces separately before putting it back together and printing.

I think that the thing that is most core to me is creating work that is accessible and asks people to be present in their lives. Whether that means savoring that snuggle, fighting for equality, or thinking about how beautiful they are. I want my work to make people feel empowered to love themselves and embrace who they are.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In my view, as a society we need to take time to think about where our possessions come from. Possessions are just things until they have meaning. We have become so removed from the people and processes that make our belongings that we no longer think of them as having been made by another person. When we take time to buy things from makers around us we create a healthier ecosystem in which we can all thrive. So I highly encourage everyone to shop local and savor the idea that someone in the community made the things that they get to enjoy.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I have had to unlearn martyrdom. I was a Montessori teacher for many years and come from a family background of volunteering. Changing the world was what I wanted to do. The problem is that there is not enough of me to give and I was pushing myself but finding that my patience and resources had been used up. It has been a process stepping back and claiming my comfort as an important priority. When I finally went freelance, it was hard to feel that I had earned it because I was like, “what is this life where I don’t have to save anyone?”

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @janellabeestudio
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/janellabeestudio