Janet Treby 1955 –<>

The youngest of four children, Treby was born in London in 1955 and grew up in a small country village in Bedfordshire. She always loved the countryside and had a great passion for wildlife. It was around the age of eleven that she realized she wanted to become an artist and had a choice between art or acting and art won. Having made this choice she was on a mission upon leaving school and embarked on a two-year foundation course at Barnfield College in Luton, followed by a degree at West Surrey College of Art and Design specializing in printmaking and sculpture.

Upon leaving college Treby lived in a studio apartment in Wapping, East London and did thebohemian artist?thing. She had already built up a successful relationship with a gallery called the Curwen Gallery who gave Treby her first one-women exhibition in the 80s. Treby also won a few awards 'The Lloyds Young Printmaker of the Year' and the 'Elizabeth Greenshield award, which allowed her to paint for a year. Throughout all of this she was lecturing and doing other various jobs to support herself and her art. However, although it made her realize just how hard it was to earn a living, she was still only interested in painting full-time, Treby knew that she did not want to lecture full-time or do any other job for that matter painting was her passion and still is!

Striving for purity in form and content Janet Treby's individual sense of color, the ability to convey mood and her mastery of drawing has gained international attention. She uses the strength and character of the female form to convey the most important elements of her work - subject and emotion.

Treby specializes in mezzotint, etching, and serigraphy to illustrate the human form with grace and tenderness. Muted colors give Janet's artwork a dreamlike, peaceful quality. The atmospheric feeling found in her work combined with her meticulous and highly developed drawing skill has made her work a favorite among collectors internationally for many years. Janet has enjoyed a career of teaching at West Surrey College of Art and Design, as well as lecturing at Ruskin School of Drawing in Oxford, Barnfield College in Luton, and lecturing on mezzotint at Southill Park College at Bracknell.

Exhibitions include: 1977 Royal Society of Etchers, England 1977 Touring Exhibition of Australia 1977 Stowells Trophy Exhibition, England 1982/84 Curwen Gallery, England 1982 Southhill Park Gallery, England 1982 The Figure, England 1987 Curwen Gallery, England 1992 St. Hellier Gallery 1992 Channel Islands 1993 Tias, Tokyo, Japan 1992 Art Multiple, Dusseldorf, Germany 1995 The Studio, Longrove, USA 1997 The Studio, Longrove, USA 1997 The Ambassador Gallery, N.Y., USA