Jeanette Johns grew up in Treaty 1 Territory/Winnipeg and currently lives in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. As a visual artist she often works within the confines of drawing and printmaking onto paper. Her research is rooted in observation with a particular interest in illusions and 2D representations of the natural world. For the last few years, she has been learning to weave and integrate the woven material and process into her studio practice. Also interested in landscape, Johns draws on theoretical and empirical knowledge to produce images that exist on the border between mathematics, geometry, and decorative design. She has taken part in residencies and exhibitions across Canada and internationally, most recently at Centre Clark in 2023 and as a Montreal resident at Fonderie Darling with a solo exhibition in 2021. She holds a BFA honours from the University of Manitoba and an MFA from Concordia University.

During Johns’ residency she will be working with a collection of stair photographs that she has taken over the last 8 years while on walks in natural rural areas. Stairs in their various forms have played a key role in her work. Their geometry makes for a poetic counter to the landscape, reminding us of the constraints that conduct our movements and the simple gestures that can help us navigate more easily. Staircases found out in nature are often built with basic materials and tools and are custom-made to navigate a specific terrain, inserted onto the land as a familiar object.