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How astonishing that, having travelled so far on these electronic fibers, you have stopped a moment to visit me in my little stone house on the top of a hill at the edge of the forest in deep rural southwestern France. A photographer and painter of American origin, I have taken up permanent residence in the Dordogne where I cultivate my garden in every sense. My medium is hand colored black and white photography and I mostly work with infrared film. I endeavor to record the light and shadows on the changing seasons of all that surrounds me here: rivers and trees, castles and animals and the bounty of Mother Nature. You are welcome to come and see my work if you come to the Dordogne. |
J anet K err photography |
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J anet K err Chaumont - 24210 Ajat - France Telephone and Fax: (33) (0) 5 53 05 26 93 e-mail: mygarden@wanadoo.fr |
Represented in the U.S. by: ENVISION Stock Photography 50 Pine Street New York, N.Y. 10005 Tel: (212) 344-4000 Fax: (212) 269-7037 http://www.envision-stock.com |
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"With age,
art and life become one."
Georges Braque 
I live in the historic and profound countryside of the northern Dordogne region of France. Forests of chestnut
and oak, and groves of walnut yield to fields of corn and wheat dotted with cows and sheep. Here on a hill top, alone in my ancient stone house, with the perpetual movement of the sun, clouds, moon and stars above me, I have
been humbled by the tremendous power of nature. I have witnessed torrential rainstorms which swiftly swelled and flooded the riverbanks, and have stood petrified in my doorway as the howling winds of an electric storm yanked
heavy tiles from my roof and snapped huge poplar trees like twigs. But the greatest and most awesome power that I have experienced over time, has been the enduring and penetrating power of "the gentle" in nature. I have learned
that that which is gentle requires time. A mere rustle of wind in the leaves is a signal that in a matter of hours the billowing clouds in the sky will disappear, leaving a serene horizon. A tender young shoot of jasmine will
develop into a tenacious wooden vine, and seeds carefully planted in one year might flower in a neighboring field in the next. This gentle process is relentless. It heals nature's wounds and fosters patience, balance and
spirituality in human beings. As a photographer, I am simply
a speck of a being in the larger picture, holding the camera which is no more than a box containing film, pointing
it in one direction or another and opening that box for light to penetrate for a split second. How delightful it is for me to print the black and white image on paper and then permit myself to dream the colors of that fleeting
moment, days, weeks or seasons later. I am a privileged witness for the power of "The Gentle."
Janet Kerr 1995 |
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Biography
Janet Kerr was born in Seattle, Washington in 1940. In 1962 she moved to Europe, first to Umbria, Italy and then London where she worked as a singer. She fell madly in love with France and moved to Paris, where she learned the french language and launched what would be a fifteen year musical career with various french groups. She recorded an album for RCA France, and performed at the Grand Palais, Espace Sylvia Monfort, American Cultural Center, The Lucernaire Forum as well as in many Cultural centers and clubs, throughout France and Switzerland. In 1979, her band, "Belle Star", was brought to the US by a French Deputy, where they performed in local nightclubs. She has been invited to perform in Venezuela under the auspices of Minister of Youth and Culture and toured Quebec, Canada. Janet composed and performed the music in two plays at La Mama, which were reviewed by The New York Times, and participated in many art/performance pieces in New York during the 1980's. Restless with music as a career, she became involved in the fragrance industrie as General Manager and Vice President of Dinand Design-New York. The Ateliers Dinand is the world renowned fragrance bottle and package design firm, headed by Pierre Dinand. Dinand is the artistic genius behind such perfume bottle as Opium, Calandre, Amariage, Tiffany and Obsession. During her years with Dinand Design she translated the "History of French Perfumerie" by Marylene Delbourg Delphis into English, as well as "Dinand, the Shapes of Perfume, Thirty Years of Design". In 1989, she purchased her first camera and went to the Dordogne region for a month vacation. While she was there, something happened which was intensely moving to her. Throughout her many years of travel, she had always carried with her, a reproduction of a Corot painting, "The boatman of Mortefontaine". Upon reviewing her first slides of her trip, she realized that the aura of the Dordogne valley, especially what her camera had captured, corresponded exactly with that treasured painting. She decided to look for a home there, learn to drive and began taking courses in Photography at Parsons night school and the International Center of Photography. A home was found, and now, six years later she is living there full time, working in her darkroom and painting workshop. Her work hangs in many private and corporate collections in France and in the United States. |
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