Janet Culbertson (b. 1932) American, Galapagos Tortoise Print. Depicting a turtle with a small head and big arms. Numbered 3/20 in the lower left. Titled 'Galapagos Tortoise' in the lower middle. Signed Culbertson in the lower right. 

Size: 15 x 11 1/4 in. 

#8294 . 

The below was written by the artist…
I am a visual artist, painting and drawing environmental landscapes of nature and animals with social and political overtones. Having once painted the beauty of the earth, I now find I am depicting the industrialization of the earth. I work in a variety of mediums, including iridescent pigments, oils, acrylics, photo transfer drawings and dimensional collage that include creatures found on the beach. My work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States in museums and galleries. I had five solo exhibits in New York City, as well as exhibitions in Los Angeles, Omaha, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, etc.

In Washington, DC, 20 of my drawings, a Monomyth about a woman hero are now in the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Also in Washington, DC I had a solo show at the National Academy of Sciences. My series of Billboard paintings from the eighties are currently in several exhibitions, while my recent work, a series called "The Industrial Park" awaits discovery.

My First New York City exhibit was called "Elegy to Nature." Since then I have been painting and drawing the many diverse aspects of the landscape. I am fascinated by our complex love yet exploitation of nature.

I painted and drew the Galapagos Islands as a last "primordial place" over a span of several years, going there twice to work and experience that fascinating site. Another series was of burst ink mural sized drawings of animals and their environments. Later I developed a personal mythology for a woman hero (based on Campbells Monomyth), which dealt with her ecological commitment to nature. This series of 20 drawings is now in the collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Whenever possible I took trips, drawing and photographing the Grand Canyon, Alaska, as well as parts of Mexico and Africa. Some of these sites became the focus foe a series of collages of "nature as Disney-fied scenes"

I plan to continue painting these paradoxical aspects of the landscape in this series as well as in "Overview" a group of 30 panels that are more sculpture since they are composed of dimensional materials such as collage, iridescent pigments, glass chips, even creatures washed up on the beach.