Collection: Janice Essick

Janice Essick

Practicing at Interact since 2005

Janice Essick's practice may be seen as two ongoing bodies of work: her tightly rendered color pencil and marker drawings, composed of graphic, measured marks; and her paintings: boundless, expressive, and deeply emotional. In both, she imbues her subjects with confidence, whether figures are drawn in moments of solitude, as in This is a Picture of a Black Man Sitting in a Chair, or amongst friends. Titles are an important part of Essick's work, illuminating elements of social commentary or alluding to the way in which images are a powerful means for recording history. 

Essick presented her first solo exhibition, This is a Picture that Janice Made, at Interact Gallery in 2022 (learn more here). She has presented work in two-person and group exhibitions throughout Minnesota, including We Are Not Disposable (2020) and Randomland at The White Page (2019). In 2017, Essick contributed to the set design for Theater Latte Da's Six Degrees of Separation. Her work is in private collections in the United States and abroad.

Special thanks to Xavier Tavera for this portrait of the artist.