Janet Groza, Sacramento, CA
Member Since November 2013
Artist Statement Everywhere I look there's proof of the miraculous creation that is the world we live in and its inhabitants. There are breathtaking views or intriguing scenes waiting to be captured in a painting, recording a moment, telling a story. I don't want to change the image that I see. I simply want to express the emotions, thoughts, and the reality of it all.
Born in Manila, Philippines, Janet Groza moved to Sacramento, California in 1980. She always had a love for the arts but studied Psychology instead at Philippines Women's University, hoping to get better career opportunities. Unfortunately, none of her classes were credited when she moved to America so she had to start from scratch. She went to work for the State of California, Department of Justice to help support her family and plant roots in Sacramento, CA. She married Robert Groza, Jr. in 1986 and after the arrival of their third and fourth daughters she decided to be a stay-at-home-mom and raise their four girls. Because she never gave up on her dream of getting an education, she took night classes. When the girls were old enough to be at school full time, she took her first painting class in 2001 and came face-to-face with her first blank canvas and oil paints. That experience changed the path of her future. She had two of her ink paintings published in the Las Positas College Anthology of 2003 and her very first painting was on display at the school Library for a month.
After she received her AA, she moved on to study and explore all concentrations of art including Illustration, Fine Arts, Sculpting, Animation, Digital Painting, 3D Modeling, and Design. With much struggle in balancing family and her studies, she received her BA in Studio Art with a concentration in Pictorial Arts as Cum Laude from San Jose State University in Spring of 2011. Janet is now focusing on watercolor as her primary medium.
She has taken instructions from well respected and accomplished watercolorists like Lian Quan Zhen, Birgit O'Connor, Nicholas Simmons, Janet Rogers, Gale Antokal, Kathleen Alexander, and Cheng Kee Chee. Her work can be categorized as Contemporary Realism mostly influenced by her favorite past and present masters as John Singer Sargent, Johannes Vermeer, Albrecht Durer, Leonardo da Vinci, Mary Whyte, Steve Hanks, and Thomas Schaller, to name a few.
In the two short years that Janet has dedicated her time to developing her work, she has received several awards and recognitions. She is being featured as one of the ten up-and-coming "ones to watch" in the December 2013 issue of Watercolor magazine. She was also accepted in the prestigious California Watercolor Association 44th National Show to open in February 2014.
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