Throw Back Thursday

This little painting started innocently enough.
Today, I am putting the final touches on Nos. 55, 56, and 57, and starting at No. 58.
#JustKeepSwimming

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Throw Back Thursday

Four generations of women & girls in my family: from left: Emily Gill, Ollie Davis (nee Gill), Hannah Gill (nee Norris), and moi: Janet Davis, at Newtown, Bonavista Bay, 1972.

I’ve been taking part in the annual NLOWE Conference which is taking place online this year over a couple of weeks instead of in-person over a few days. The Newfoundland & Labrador Organization for Women Entrepreneurs works diligently to help women of this province succeed in business, and I’m very thankful for their programs and workshops that have been helping me for quite a long time!

Interacting with so many women makes me think of the women who have inspired my career: My mother who fought for what was right for us kids, and made me believe it was okay to stand up for myself; My nan Gill who made everything by hand and died too soon for me to ask so many questions; My Great Nan Gill who lived almost forever, and knit mittens for all of her generations of children and grandchildren- I still have the last pair she made for me before her death at 104 years of age in 1988. The idea of the importance of making things by hand was always in my life, and my mother fostered the spark of interest I had from a fairly early age in a big way, enabling me to try whatever I wanted. I am very thankful for that encouragement in my childhood, and indeed, the encouragement that has continued for all the years since.

Throw Back Thursday

My first solo exhibition, at the end of my studies at NSCAD. $5,000 was a fortune!

Throw Back Thursday

This photo is not dated. But we have some clues. My house still had the original house (servants quarters after 1884) attached, although the third floor is already removed (which happened in 1930). Someone told me years ago that that portion of the house was cut down to its present state the spring of Come Home Year (1966). The tiny building to the right of the shop was apparently a telegraph office, but there is a pole of some sort on the shop, which might be a transmitting tower making me think that the telegraph equipment was actually in the office? I’ll have to look up the dates of the telegraph receipts…

I once met an elderly lady in my shop who told me that when she was having her first child, she was brought to Norton’s Cove by boat, and she sent a telegraph home to Newtown to say that she had arrived safely. Job Kean then gave her a ride to Brookfield Cottage Hospital in his truck to deliver her baby under the care of the doctor. How times have changed! What an incredible range of technology that woman witnessed in her lifetime! And, I LOVE the fact that people tell me these stories when visiting my shop! The building itself is a conversation piece.

Throw Back Thursday

Throw back to summer-time, quite a few years ago, sailing on our first boat, Garnet Star. I’m really looking forward to getting on board Virtue again this spring, and totally immersing myself in that glorious summer sea air!

# ThrowBackThursday

Having a fun winter day c.1977? at Purcell Street, Kilbride

Throw Back Thursday to MUN Archives

When Janet Davis, an artist and entrepreneur, bought the Job Kean property in Brookfield, Bonavista Bay, in 1995, she bought more than a neglected house and general store that sat vacant for 20 years… see the full story from last year’s MUN Gazette:  Art form

From MUN Archives’ Job Kean Collection

Anniversary Sale!

Today marks 16 years since the day I first opened Norton’s Cove Studio for business.  A tiny figure compared to the 128th anniversary of the construction of the historic general store that houses my studio & shop, but significant to me never-the-less!

This picture was taken for the Beacon (if my memory serves me correctly) back in 2002, just before I was ready to open.  I was still setting up new equipment.

To thank you, my faithful customers, friends, neighbours, and family who have supported me through the years, I have a few treats for you here at the studio today:

• coffee
• tasty nibbles
• door prize: $25 gift card
• 50% off all cards, minis, bookmarks, and framed minis
• 25% off everything else in the shop
• door opens at 10am and closes at 6pm

Online customers get a different deal:

• 40% off all artwork by Janet Davis: use code Anniversary Sale
• Also use this code if you don’t require shipping: PICKUPINSTORE
• 6am to 10pm (Newfoundland time!)

Go ahead, make the most of both deals!

To all of you, whether you are a repeat customer with an entire Janet Davis art collection, you stopped in once on a travel trip and bought #justacard, or you love to eat at my restaurant, THANK YOU.  Every purchase counts towards a successful business that is employing several people and I think is doing good things in our tiny community here outport Newfoundland.  I hope this little business keeps growing!

2018 photo courtesy of Grant Cudmore.

Throw Back Thursday

This untitled piece was a part of my first solo exhibit back in 1998, teastory.

Lithograph, found object, thread. Janet Davis 1998

Each piece in the series is the size shape and image of a tea bag. The teacup fragments were collected from the floor of my Morris Street apartment’s tiny kitchen. Too precious to be thrown away, I tucked them away for an unknown purpose, until I imagined this piece.

It’s all about holding precious bits and fragments of the past, but going on with something new, beautiful, and cherished.