The Curiosities of Janice Lowry book to be released on May 7, 2011

In conjunction with the exhibit, we will also be releasing the first major retrospective book ever published on Janice's artwork and life. The book, like the exhibition, is titled "The Curiosities of Janice Lowry". It is a stunning, 256 page, full color hardcover book that showcases over 200 works of art, as well as several essays written especially for this book.
The book is available in two editions: The standard hardcover, which sells for $45, and a deluxe limited edition of 100 that comes in a custom designed linen covered box and includes a limited edition etching as well as a DVD of interviews with Janice. The Limited Edition sells for $150.
If you are interested in the limited edition or group purchases of the regular edition, please e-mail me at artype@cox.net for more info. Single copies of the regular edition will be available at Grand Central Art Center.

The Curiosities of Janice Lowry opens May 7, 2011

Well friends and family, the wait for Janice's one-person major retrospective exhibition is almost over. The Curiosities of Janice Lowry will open on Saturday, May 7 at 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Art Center in downtown Santa Ana. Click on the picture of the announcement to enlarge it, or go to http://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/ArtGallery_gcartgallery.php for more details on the show.
The show has been in the works for over a year and a half, and will be a survey of her assemblages, journals, collages and paintings. We'll be serving up tasty Mexican food at the opening from one of Janice's favorite restaurants, and the event is planned to be a joyous celebration of her life and art. I hope to see you all there, but if you can't make it on the 7th, the show will be up until June 12th.

Yet another new Janice Lowry book

This spring seems to be a bonanza for new books featuring Janice. Her good friends and frequent Sommerset collaborators Jenny Doh and Jo Packham have just released a new book, Where Women Create Book of Inspiration. It is a beautifully produced full color hardcover book, and it features a six page feature on Janice in her studio. This was one of Janice's last interviews, conducted in her studio last spring. Ironically, this would be one of the last projects Jenny Doh would undertake while still the editor at Sommerset Studios. She has since moved on to launch her own venture, www.crescendoh.com which states on it's home page: "Creative Passion, Authentic Community, Focused Compassion." Be sure and check it out.

So this book represents a time of transition of both Jenny and Janice. I think readers of this blog will really enjoy it.

But wait, there's a book too!

I got to thinking a bit after my last posting about the current show at the Smithsonian. I remembered Liza had told me that she really wanted to do a show AND a book on artist's to-do lists. I wondered...hmm...did Liza mange to create the book she wanted to do in addition to the exhibition? I prowled around the Internet, and lo and behold, there it is! Just published on March 24 (my sister Ruth's birthday and just 6 days before Janice's). Here is a link to it on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Lists-dos-Illustrated-Inventories-Collected/dp/1568988885/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272754157&sr=8-1

Just today I received a copy from author Liza Kirwin, who inscribed it "We are honored that Janice chose us as the keepers of her journals." Indeed they are. Every artist in the book includes a full spread of their work, including Janice. Janice is also featured with an additional image as well as description in the introduction. The book is full of amazing people and images, and includes nearly all of Janice's art heroes and mentors, among them Joseph Cornell, Arthur Dove, Pablo Picasso, William de Kooning, Ray Johnson, Grant Wood, and one of my all time heroes, N.C. Wyeth. If Frida Kahlo and Marcel Duchamp were here too it would have been a grand slam home run for Janice.

I know that she would be thrilled and humbled to be here among so many of the artists that she so admired. And I can tell you from my own slightly biased point of view that she stands toe to toe with every one of them.

It's a great book, and I know readers of this blog will all enjoy it.

Janice currently on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

In the fall of 2007, Janice and I traveled to Washington DC to meet Liza Kirwin and work out the details for Janice's journals to become part of the Smithsonian's permanent collection. Liza was flipping thru one of Janice's journals and she stopped on a page and exclaimed excitedly "Look! You do it too! I just knew it!"

What she had pointed out was one of Janice's to-do lists, which Liza had noticed was a recurring theme in so many of the artists journals that are in the Smithsonian's collection. She said she really wanted to do a show on just artists lists, and perhaps even a book. Well, Liza's show is on display now thru September. It's called "Lists, To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts and Other Artists' Enumerations". (whew!)

My mother, father, sister Sue and Sues' daughter Halley just returned from seeing it, along with a VIP tour of the archives with Liza Kirwin. One wall even features a huge blow-up of one of Janice's journal pages.

These are some photos my dad took, and what struck him immediately as he entered the museum was a statue of a cowboy, leading the way for my family to see Janice's work.

Kelly Ann Brown November 10, 1965-November 28, 2009

This is a photo of Kelly taken October 15, 2008 by Janice.

When Janice and I were married on Ground Hogs Day, 1983, she provided me with an incredibly rich dowry. I got two sons; Brandon, who had turned 17 four days earlier, and Kevin, who was 13. And I also got a God Daughter, Kelly Brown, who was 17.

Kelly was Katy Jo's oldest child, and she and Janice were connected tightly together since before Kelly was born. Katy Jo and Janice were best friends in High School. They both married their high school sweethearts in 1965. Kelly was born November 10, 1965 and Brandon was born January 28, 1966. Katy Jo and Janice would each decide to have another child, and 1969 saw the birth of David (to Katy Jo) and Kevin to Janice. Both Katy Jo and Janice's husbands would decide to uproot their young families and move to California. And ultimately, both of these early marriages would end in divorce.

But the bond between Kelly and her God Mother Janice would remain rock solid and strong throughout both of their lives. Even though there were sometimes long gaps between seeing one another, Kelly always knew that she could rely on Janice and that gave her tremendous comfort and confidence. And Janice loved Kelly like the daughter she never had herself.

Kelly and I always got along very well. Our families spent several memorable vacations together, in France, in Palm Springs, and Washington. When Janice's cancer forced her to be bedridden, Kelly was by her side. And after Janice died in September, Kelly, Katy Jo, and their good friend Deb Hanula decided that the best thing that could be done for me and my family was for them to host the Christmas holidays at Katy Jo and Steve's home on Vashon Island, Washington. All of my kids, their wives and the grand kids were invited. David would be flying in from India to join us, and Kelly would come in from Santa Monica. Kelly set many wheels in motion; matching t-shirts for the entire family, a bevy of board games for what was bound to be stormy days on Vashon, extensive menu planning, and a jewelry party for all of the girls.

Katy Jo and Deb organized a small birthday party in Santa Monica for Kelly, and it was a very nice event. Kelly was in much better spirits than when I had seen her shortly before Janice died, and we talked a lot about the upcoming Christmas holidays and how much we were all looking forward to spending it together in Vashon. Sadly, this would be the last time I saw Kelly alive.

Kelly battled disease for much of her adult life, and it had taken a terrible toll on her. Sometime on November 28, Kelly died in her sleep. She was 44 years old.

It was an incredibly sad ending to a very sad year. We have had three memorial services for Kelly; a small one at my home immediately after her passing, a large formal gathering on Vashon during the Christmas holidays, and a third one March 21st in Eagle Rock for Kelly's many friends in Los Angeles that were unable to attend the service on Vashon.

This has been a very difficult thing for me to write about. Like Janice, her life was cut far too short. They both had so much more to give and they both had such love for this world and their families. And every time I think of Kelly, I also think about Janice, and the sorrow and loss is twice as bad.

But with a little time and distance, I can already see that some good things that have happened. Our families did indeed spend the Christmas holidays together on Vashon Island, and it was a beautiful, moving and wonderful experience-just what Kelly would have wanted. Our mutual loss has brought Katy Jo and Steve and I even closer together, and we have just finished taking a remarkable trip together which I will be detailing in my next postings. And we plan a trip together to India and the Kingdom of Buthan at the end of May. I like to think that when my time comes and I get to see Janice and Kelly again, they will have got things totally ready for us-the place will look incredible, the artwork will be dazzling, and the meals will truly be out of this world.

Kelly and Janice will be forever linked together throughout all of eternity.

Kate McGarrigle 1946-2010

One of Janice's very favorite recording artists died this Monday. Although she and Janice never met formally, we did have the great pleasure of seeing her perform with her sister Anna at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano. Linda Ronstadt describes what it was like to see the McGarrigle sisters in today's LA Times obituary, which you can read here:

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-kate-mcgarrigle20-2010jan20,0,2618111.story

I can not help but be struck by the similarities between Janice and Kate. The were the same age, they both died of rare forms of cancer, they were both highly regarded artists that never found huge widespread fame, nor cared to aggressively pursue it.

I can't say enough good things about Kate's music. I can tell you that from the time Heartbeats Accelerating came out in 1990 until the day she died, this album never was too far from Janice's CD player. I posted the following tribute to Kate on her website (mcgarrigle.com) last night. My comment is number 281, and I reprise it here for you.

I am sure that Janice has already begun to show Kate the ropes in heaven, and that they two of them have an awful lot to catch up on.

Dear Anna and family-

I was very saddened to hear the news of Kate’s passing today. I have
followed your work since the 70’s, and my wife and I were both big fans.
Living in Southern California seemed to mean that live appearances by you
were few and far between in our neck of the woods, but I still remember very
fondly the night we saw you at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano back
in 1990. It still remains one of my very favorite concert experiences.

Kate’s passing has an additional personal significance for me. I lost my
beautiful wife of 27 years back in September, also from an uncommon form of
cancer. Like Kate, she was born in 1946, was a mother, a wife and a
grandmother. She was also an incredibly talented artist, although her chosen
field was painting and assemblage as opposed to music. Her journals (all 126
of them) reside in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
You can see her work out at http://www.janicelowry.com.

She and Kate were both taken from us far too soon, and leave large gaping
holes in two very remarkable families. My deepest sympathy and very best
wishes go out to all of you. I feel your pain very much.

A grateful fan,

Jon

New interview with Janice from Where Women Create sessions

Jo Packham, who published the beautiful interview with Janice in the current issue of Where Women Create also does an e-newsletter. This weeks issue features an antidote from Janice that was not published in the magazine, and Jo has shared it with us here.

It is so, so Janice. I think you will really enjoy it. Here is a link to the story:

http://www.wherewomencreate.com/newsletter-feature/09/novdecjan.html

The painting Janice is talking about in the interview is now in the collection of her oldest son Brandon and his wife Carri. A few weeks before Janice died, she made one last visit to her studio with me and all of our children and their wives. They each got to choose one piece, and Carri chose that painting. Janice had always refused to sell it, since it was one that gave her so much courage to keep fighting her fears. And in the end, she never did sell it-she gave it away to the next person she thought might be needing it.

Jon

Janice's friend Julia needs your support

Janice met Julia Beers almost immediately after moving to California in 1976. Son Kevin was enrolled into Kindergarten, and when Janice went to the new parent orientation, there was Kevin's new teacher Julia. The two creative, gregarious earth mothers with their giant hearts and dreaming spirits immediately connected, and Julia remained one of Janice's closest friends until the day she died.

Nearly 20 years ago, Julia was diagnosed with breast cancer and not given much hope for recovery. But Julia is a resilient soul. She beat the disease and has remained cancer free all these years.

But life has played it's cruel tricks. Cristoph, her husband at the time was to be stricken with cancer himself shortly after Julia was and died a few short years later. Julia was single for many years, but this September she became a newlywed to Jim Kelly, and they are happily head over heels in love.

Having just returned from their honeymoon, Julia was not feeling well, and was taken to the hospital. Doctors discovered a large cancerous tumor in her skull pressing against her left frontal lobe, and it was surgically removed this past Friday.

At this point, they are awaiting the results of a biopsy to see just what it is they are up against. It is definitely serious, but Julia is hopeful, and as always, a fighter.

Chances are, if you are a friend of Janice's, you are probably a friend of Julia's too. Her friends have set up a website to keep everyone posted, as well as give people the opportunity to send Julia their love and support. And this is where you come in.

It certainly made a big difference to Janice and I to know so many people out there were caring for us, and I would ask you to do the same for Julia. You can access her site at:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/juliabeers

She and her family would love to hear from you.

Much love,
Jon

Where Women Create on newsatnds now

The November 2009/Winter 2010 issue hit the news stands this week, and it is really beautiful. This issue features one of the last major interviews that Janice ever gave, and is eight pages long. It was shot at her studio in February of this year, just before we found out about the cancer. She is absolutely full of life and energy, and the photos are really the nicest that were ever taken of Janice in her last studio.

Jo Packham has put together a truly beautiful package, with 12 different women artists profiled. Although Janice didn't get to see the finished product, she did see a proof of her article before she died, and she agreed with me that this was probably the nicest article that had been done on her. If you are reading this blog, chances are good you'll want this book.

Jon

Genevieve and Jon at the installation of Janice's ofrenda

I came by to see Genevieve as she put the final touches on Janice's ofrenda at the Bower's Museum Friday, October 30th. That Sunday alone, over 4,000 people came to the Day of the Dead celebration at the Bowers. Janice would truly have loved that. I have a feeling she was there checking it all out.

Thanks again to Nancy Johnson and everyone else at the Bowers for making it happen.

Jon

Pictures of Janice's ofrenda at the Bowers Museum

Thanks again to Genevieve and all at the Bowers. It looked beautiful. In case you missed it, it will be in the basement level of the Santora building as part of the Santa Ana artwalk on Saturday, November 7th.
Jon

Janice to be featured at Bowers Museum Day of the Dead celebration

Janice had many friends and admirers who work at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, and they have chosen to honor her at this years Day of the Dead celebration. Genevieve Barrios-Southgate has been constructing Day of the Dead altars (or "ofrendas") for about 15 years, and has done one for Janice in the front lobby of the Bowers. I went there yesterday for it's installation, and loaned Genevieve a number of Janice's personal affects for the altar. It's really beautiful, and something Janice would have loved. It combines her long love affair with traditional Mexican art with her long love affair with the Bowers, and I am so pleased that it has happened for her.

The offrenda will be up at the Bowers only until Tuesday, November 3rd. It will then be moved over to the Santora Building in the Santa Ana Artist's Village as part of the first Saturday Art Walk and Day of the Dead celebration on Saturday, November 7th.

I hope you will get a chance to see it at one of these locations. Here is a link to the Bower's website that mentions Janice:

http://www.bowers.org/index.php/learn/events_details/135

Thanks again to Nancy and everyone else at the Bowers that knew and loved Janice.

Happy Day of the Dead-
Jon

Jenny Doh and Janice

Jenny, for those of you that do not know her, is the Editor-in-Chief and Director of Publishing for Sommerset Studios magazine. She and Janice were friends for several years. Jenny asked Janice to contribute articles to the magazine, which Janice did regularly. Janice also served on the editorial advisory board. I think the partnership was successful because Jenny gave Janice such a wide berth to basically write about whatever she wanted to, which was certainly the best way to get Janice inspired. As a result, Janice's work reached a much wider audience that it otherwise would have, and to this day I still get e-mails from people all over the world that begin "I never knew Janice, but she really inspired me..."

Jenny was one of the people Janice personally asked to speak at her memorial service. She did, and was great, as were all of the speakers and musicians.

Jenny writes her own blog, and has posted several really moving tributes to Janice. Here are links to three of them I think you will enjoy:

Nonsense to the side
http://jennydoh.typepad.com/crescendo/2009/09/nonsense-to-the-side.html

Happy Trails to our Beloved Janice Lowry
http://jennydoh.typepad.com/crescendo/2009/10/happy-trails-to-our-beloved-janice-lowry.html

Remembering Janice Lowry
http://jennydoh.typepad.com/crescendo/2009/10/remembering-janice-lowry.html

Thanks for everything, Jenny.

Jon

November issue of Smithsonia magazine with Janice article out now

Janice and I have been long time subscribers to Smithsonian magazine (waaaay before they accepted her journals). On Friday, the November issue arrived in my mailbox with Janice's last interview, written by Owen Edwards. It appears on page 24 and 26. It is a very sweet article, even though Owen had told me he was somewhat sheepish about it not being a really long and in-depth profile, due to space limitations. Perhaps this will spark interest in more and longer stories in the future. Let's hope so.

I am fairly certain you can purchase Smithsonian magazine at bookstores and good news stands, but if not, you can read the story on their website. Here is a link to it:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Object-at-Hand-Drawn-From-Life.html#

Thanks again Owen. Janice would have loved this.

Jon

Thank you all so very, very much

It has been quite sometime since my last post, and I do apologize for that. A lot of my time and focus has been on Janice's memorial service, which was held on October the 10th at the Episcopal Church of the Messiah, followed by a reception at our home.

I have to say, I was completely overwhelmed by the love and support shown to Janice and our family by so many of you out there. Not just at the memorial service, but
throughout this process, with your cards, your letters, and your e-mail postings on this blog. Not to mention all the folks that made us food and brought it by the house, just knowing we would not have much time to cook (which we didn't, by the way). The folks that came to wish Janice well at her bedside, the people that continue to show me and my family the love and support since Janice's passing. I literally could never begin to find the time to write back to you all individually...there are just too many of you, which is certainly a testament to how deeply Janice touched so many, many people.

I hope you will accept this blast in to cyberspace as at least a small way of letting you know how much we appreciate everything you have done for us. Your support has certainly provided us with a lot of strength during this dark time in our family's life, and we sincerely want to thank you for all that you have done for us.

Full text of Janice's LA Times obituary article

Several of you have told me that you were unable to open the link to the LA Times website to read Janice's article, so I have included here in case you missed it.
Jon

OBITUARY
Janice Lowry Gothold dies at 63; artist and journal writer taught in Orange County
Her journals are in the Smithsonian's permanent collection and her art received national acclaim.


Janice Lowry Gothold's collage-filled journals were accepted into the Smithsonian Institution's permanent collection. (Family photo)

By Valerie J. Nelson

October 2, 2009 | 11:05 p.m.


Janice Lowry Gothold, an artist who specialized in creating primitive-looking assemblages from found objects and whose journals received national recognition, died of liver cancer Sept. 20 at her Santa Ana home, her family said. She was 63.

At 11, Gothold started keeping a diary, which led to a lifelong fascination to "prove" that she "existed," the artist said in a 2008 interview.

Over the next 50-plus years, her journals became increasingly visual, and, in 2007, the collage-filled collection of 126 volumes was accepted into the Smithsonian Institution's permanent collection.

"They have these elements of diaries and confessions and to-do lists, a whole matrix of an artistic life," Liza Kirwin, a Smithsonian curator, told the Orange County Register in 2007 when she decided to add the journals to archives that document how artists live and work.

Gothold was "attracted to real objects from the real world" and found many of the pieces she worked with at swap meets, in trash bins and at thrift stores, she once said.

In a review of a 1989 show of Gothold's three-dimensional assemblages at the Westside gallery Art Space, a Times reviewer said that the artist made "droll little commentaries on life" as she developed an "idiosyncratic cast of characters" that was "rife with sprung clock springs, measuring stick figures and skeletal ladders."

Born March 30, 1946, in Phoenix, she was one of five children of a mother who married seven times. Family instability and the desert of her youth were prominent in her art, her family said.

She was a divorced mother of two when she earned a bachelor's degree at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1979 and a master's a year later. She also taught at the art center but took a break after marrying Jon Gothold, an art director, and having a third son in 1985.

In 1986, she returned to teaching, first at Cypress College and then at the Art Institute of Orange County.

As it praised "her little shadowbox monsters," the Orange County Weekly named her the region's "best visual artist" in 2007.

In addition to her husband and sons, Brandon, Kevin and Brent, she is survived by two sisters, a brother and three grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Oct. 10 at the Episcopal Church of the Messiah, 614 N. Bush St., Santa Ana.

Instead of flowers, the family suggests donating to Taller San Jose, a continuing education program for at-risk youths, www.tallersanjose.org.

valerie.nelson@latimes.com

Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

Nice article on Janice in today's Los Angeles Times

I am very happy to tell you that the LA Times has published a feature article on Janice in the obituary section today, Saturday October 3rd. Here is a link to the story:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-me-janice-lowry-gothold3-2009oct03,0,7635613.story

I wrote up a full obituary for her and submitted it, along with photos, to the Times, the OC Register, The OC Weekly and the local Idyllwild paper, the Town Crier. I also pitched each paper with an individual letter, asking them to consider her as a significant artist that deserved a feature treatment, not just a standard obituary.

I know Janice would have been really pleased to see this in the LA Times, a newspaper we both hold in very high regard. I am really, really happy and proud of this tribute for her.

A charity that was near and dear to Janice

Several of you have asked about the possibility of making a donation to a charity in Janice's name. There is a continuation school in Santa Ana that serves at risk youth that both Janice and I have been involved with for several years, and we would love for donations to be made to them. They do an incredible job with some of the toughest kids in Orange County, and have remarkable statistics for success in walking youths out of poverty and into healthy productive lives. To make a donation and to read more about them, please go to www.tallersanjose.org for details. We would ask you to consider doing this in lieu of flowers, as this was a very important organization to Janice.

Many thanks,
Jon

Memorial Service for Janice set for Saturday, October 10

Hello friends, it's Jon.

There will be a memorial service for Janice at The Episcopal Church of the Messiah, 614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana, 92701 at 2 PM on Saturday, October the 10th. We will have a reception celebrating Janice's life at our home in North Tustin immediately following. La Chiquita, one of Janice's all time favorite Mexican restaurants will be catering. Margaritas, cervesas, and sharing stories about Janice will be the order of the day.

The church is a beautiful building, built in 1888. We have had a long association with it and Father Brad from the many years we lived in French Park. Our son Kevin married Monica there, and two of our grandchildren were baptised there as well. Janice was on the volunteer board for Helping Hands, one of several outreach programs sponsored by the church.

Parking at the church, and at our home is somewhat limited. I would suggest that if you can carpool with friends, so much the better.

We will look forward to celebrating with you all then.

Peace be with you-

Jon

You can get directions to the church at their website, www.messiah-santaana.org
We will provide driving directions and a map to our home at the church.