JANICE MASON STEEVES
Graduating with an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Manitoba, Mason Steeves held Clinical and School Psychology positions in Manitoba and Ontario before leaving the field to focus on painting. Further studies were completed at the Ontario College of Art and Design where she graduated with an Honours Diploma in Drawing and Painting and was the recipient of the Nora E. Vaughan Award. She exhibits her work annually in solo and group exhibitions across Canada and in the U.S. and is represented by galleries in Canada and the U.S.A. Her work is included in numerous corporate and public collections both in Canada and internationally, including among others, The Government of Ontario Art Collection; The Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, ON; CIBC World Markets, London, UK; First Gulf; Intrawest Corporation and the Senvest Collection, Montreal.
Travel, pilgrimage and dreams have been important in influencing her painting. A journey to Greece in 1993 was pivotal in her life and her art. What followed was a persistent dream that was to define her work—a dream of a light-filled vessel. Other pilgrimages have included visiting Shiva temples in South India on a trip led by a mystical author, searching for wild peonies in Tibet with Chinese botanists, and travelling with Sufi scholars to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of the poet, Rumi in Konya. When she returns from each journey, she waits for an image to come. Sometimes the images are flowers or water lilies or vessels. But always they are images of light that emerge from the darkness of creation.
Mason Steeves was elected as a member of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1993. She served as President of the OSA from 2000-2003 and in that capacity she initiated and was Chair of The Water Project. In this ambitious endeavour 67 public and private galleries across Ontario mounted concurrent exhibitions on the theme ‘water’ in the summer of 2003, which was designated as the International Year of Water by the United Nations.
Janice Mason Steeves’ home and studio is in the country outside of Toronto, Ontario.
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