Janet Macpherson

Accomplished artist, Janet Macpherson, uses her Catholic upbringing to inform her works. She is inspired by religious tradition including illuminated manuscripts, depictions of martyred saints, as well as medieval woodcuts. Her work lays out a fascination with all sorts of creatures, too. Often, Macpherson’s pieces play with animal-human hybrids, monsters and themes of the grotesque. Her ceramic works sometimes bare striking gold markings and always have the feeling of being something quite precious if but peculiar.

Janet Macpherson earned her Bachelor degree in philosophy from York University, and studied ceramics at Sheridan College. She holds an MFA from The Ohio State University. She has been the recipient of a research grant from The Canada Council for the Arts, the 2013 Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics, and the RBC Emerging Artists Studio Set-up Award presented by Craft Ontario. Janet currently lives and works in Toronto.