Dr. Janie Paul

Biography

Janie Paul is a painter and community-based artist educator whose primary focus is using visual meaning-creation as a vehicle for social change. Before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1995, she taught at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan and the Brooklyn Museum Education Department, and served as an artist-in-residence in New York’s Studio School Program. During her graduate studies, Paul researched perceptual artistic development in children and how it influenced her subsequent work in schools and prisons. After moving to Michigan, she developed numerous projects that brought students in contact with underserved Detroit schools, juvenile facilities, and adult prisons. In the class Art Workshops Prisons, Paul’s students facilitate art workshops in juvenile facilities and adult prisons, as part of the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP), which collaborates with the University of Michigan English Department. Fran directed the Community Connections from 2003 to 2005, leading the development of the School of Art & Design Outreach Program which built relationships with local community organizations. Paul's painting simultaneously influences her community work and serves as a source of art, including oil, encaustic painting, drawing, and printmaking, which are rooted in a long-standing connection to nature. She exhibits regularly in venues across New York, New England, and Michigan, and has presented her work at various conferences, schools, and prisons nationwide. Additionally, she has co-curated ten annual exhibitions showcasing the work of Michigan prisoners, bringing art to forty prisons and the campus each year.

Research Interests

Experience