Barbara Januszkiewicz
Here is a rich and SEO-optimized biographical article on Barbara Januszkiewicz, with her life, work, philosophy, and famous quotes. (If she is primarily an artist rather than a literary author, I adapt “author” broadly to creative production.)
Barbara Januszkiewicz – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes
Discover the life and artistic journey of Barbara Januszkiewicz — American painter, multimedia artist, educator, and creative activist. Explore her biography, style, philosophy, influence, and memorable quotations.
Introduction
Barbara Morrison Januszkiewicz (born February 23, 1955) is an American painter, multimedia artist, creative activist, and educator based in the Washington, D.C. area. She is known for her lyrical abstraction, her fusion of visual art and musical sensibility, and her role in promoting creative collaboration and art activism.
Her artworks often call to mind the color field painters such as Morris Louis and Helen Frankenthaler — translucent washes on unprimed canvas, delicate overlaps of hue, and a sense of motion and musical rhythm.
In addition to her studio practice, Januszkiewicz is an educator, gallery founder, and advocate for arts in community and interdisciplinary collaboration. In short, she is a creative voice whose influence spans both visual and cultural spheres.
Early Life and Education
Barbara Januszkiewicz was born on February 23, 1955. While detailed sources about her childhood and family background are limited in public records, she developed a strong interest in art and visual expression from an early age.
Her formal artistic training includes studying under the Chinese master Mun Quan at Jacksonville University in the late 1970s. This training influenced her sensitivity to watery media, diffusion, and controlled fluid techniques.
Later, she was mentored by Paul Reed, who was associated with the Washington Color School, and she developed her own style in dialogue with—but independent of—the color school tradition.
Her education and early influences equipped her to embrace experimentation, a layering approach to color, and a blending of visual and musical aesthetics.
Career and Artistic Achievements
Artistic Style & Signature Approach
Barbara Januszkiewicz’s work is primarily abstract, using water-based media (watercolor, diluted acrylic) on unprimed canvas or paper to allow color to soak, bleed, and interact organically. Her approach is lyrical, fluid, and musical in impulse.
While reminiscent of the Washington Color School and mid-20th century color field painters like Morris Louis and Helen Frankenthaler, Januszkiewicz’s voice remains distinct, often described as more dynamic, gestural, and with an emphasis on translucence and motion.
She also works with plexiglass, creating three-dimensional or floating visual effects. In her philosophy, she lets works “unfold organically,” shaped by the interplay of colors and forms.
Exhibitions, Collections, and Installations
Her paintings have been exhibited in prominent galleries and institutions in the Washington, D.C. area, including:
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The Phillips Collection
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The Corcoran Gallery of Art
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The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
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Other galleries, art shows, and public/private collections around the D.C. Metro area
She was the first resident visual artist with the American Jazz Museum, linking her art to musical dialogue and improvisation.
In 2017, she was commissioned to create a 30-foot mural titled “Coming Together” to aid in community revitalization in Arlington, Virginia. In 2022, she was selected for an art installation in the Alexandria Art District’s MetroStage theater in Virginia.
She also founded Metro Micro Gallery in Northern Virginia (Arlington) to support noncommercial, community-oriented art projects.
Roles & Advocacy
Beyond her studio work, Januszkiewicz is an educator, teaching and mentoring artists. She values risk-taking, experimentation, and creative collaboration across disciplines — particularly bridging visual arts and music.
She has engaged in documentary and research projects around the Washington Color School, including producing interviews and a film titled Unprimed Canvas.
She also initiated The Dotted Line Project in the D.C. area to foster dialogues among artists.
Historical & Artistic Context
Barbara Januszkiewicz works within a broader continuum of American abstract and color field painting. The Washington Color School (active primarily mid-20th century) sought to emphasize luminous fields of color and painterly surface — Januszkiewicz builds from and beyond that lineage.
Her generation entered the scene in an art world with many competing currents — minimalism, conceptual art, expressionism, and mixed media. Her emphasis on lyricism, translucence, and musical metaphor sets her apart in a contemporary art context often dominated by overt conceptual gestures.
She also reflects a trend of interdisciplinary crossing: weaving elements of music, sound, and visual art into a single creative sensibility.
In doing so, she contributes to a more fluid, less bounded notion of what a painter might be — not limited to the canvas, but engaged with installation, collaboration, and community.
Legacy and Influence
Though still living and active, Januszkiewicz’s influence is felt in several domains:
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Bridging art and music: Her aesthetic invites audiences to consider color, form, and rhythm as akin to musical composition.
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Community engagement: Through gallery initiatives, public murals, and cross-disciplinary projects, she has promoted accessibility and dialogue in the arts.
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Mentorship and education: Many emerging artists in the D.C. region see her as a model of sustained creative integrity and generous collaboration.
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Charting new abstractions: Her focus on translucent media, organic unfolding of form, and fluid layering pushes abstraction in a more lyrical, emotive direction.
Her legacy is still evolving; future art historians may place her more centrally in the narratives of late 20th / early 21st century American abstract art.
Personality, Philosophy & Creative Vision
Barbara Januszkiewicz values freedom, experimentation, risk, and cross-pollination across disciplines. She believes that creative vision is the starting point for possibility, and that the visual arts are tools to expand human imagination and awareness.
Her process often involves allowing the artwork to unfold organically, responding to inner impulses, color interactions, and gestural intuition. She is not afraid of ambiguity, overlapping forms, translucence, or subtle transitions.
She sees a deep connection between visual art and sound or musical structure — for her, painting can express rhythm, tempo, harmony, and improvisation.
She often speaks of creative collaboration, believing that combining different viewpoints, methods, and disciplines yields richer outcomes than working in isolation.
Famous Quotes of Barbara Januszkiewicz
Here are some notable quotations attributed to Barbara Januszkiewicz, reflecting her philosophy of art, vision, and creativity:
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“Creative thinking inspires ideas. Ideas inspire change.”
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“Be drawn to the visual arts for it can expand your imagination.”
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“Jazz is the art of thinking out loud.”
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“Jazz vision is the fusion of music and art a real paradox of same-yet different. Here we play in exchanges, like the hardness of the key of c# major and from the softness of Db major — capturing, reflecting and improvising.”
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“Absolute truth cannot be bended. A universal truth is like mathematics there is only one answer but there’s many ways to get there.”
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“It is easy to discuss the faults in others, and hard to disseminate our own shortcomings.”
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“Ideas come through us, not from us.”
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“Jazz can be a blank canvas full of possibilities.”
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“There are no mistakes in art, only opportunities to be more creative.”
These quotes reveal her themes: fusion of music and visual, openness to possibility, humility about creation, and vision as a guiding force.
Lessons from Barbara Januszkiewicz
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Let art be a dialogue across senses
Januszkiewicz shows that painting need not be visual alone — it can echo rhythm, musical structure, and emotional resonance. -
Embrace experimentation and risk
She champions letting the work “unfold” rather than forcing fixed forms prematurely. -
Interdisciplinary collaboration deepens creativity
Working across music, visual art, activism, and community amplifies impact and range. -
Cultivate humility in creation
Her sense that “ideas come through us, not from us” underscores a recognition that creativity is partly transcendent. -
Art can serve community and transformation
Through public murals, gallery initiatives, and activist projects, she demonstrates that art can animate public life and shared identity.
Conclusion
Barbara Januszkiewicz stands as a compelling figure in contemporary American art: an abstract painter rooted in luminous fields and fluid gesture, yet deeply animated by musical vision, community engagement, and creative experiment. Her work reminds us that abstraction need not be cold or detached — it can pulse, breathe, improvise, and converse.