Today we’d like to introduce you to Jane Grant-Abban.
Hi Jane, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Growing up I always loved painting and drawing, but moved away from that when I went to university in Wales to study business. After going half mad tied to a desk in my first couple of jobs, I changed direction and did a post-graduate degree to teach elementary-age children. In the UK, at least back when I was teaching, the arts were considered a very important and necessary part of education. I found teaching art and crafts with the children in my class revived my love for painting, but I believed I had ‘missed the boat’ in terms of art as a career.
In 2006 my husband and I moved with our kids from the UK to Stillwater. It was my husband who encouraged me to take the life change as a queue to explore what I had always wanted to do; paint! But where to start? I ended up studying with a wonderful oil painter, Kami Mendlik, and quickly decided I wanted to work towards being a full-time artist. I studied hard and quickly improved, so much so that, one year later, I had my first solo exhibit!
Not long after that, people started asking me if I taught art to kids, and that’s how Abban Art Academy started. I had several years of teaching wonderful kids who loved art and wanted to learn from a practicing artist. At that time, I also got more and more drawn to helping people explore art for wellness, especially people who did not believe they were artistic. As I followed that desire, I went to California to be certified in a unique therapeutic art process called Art & Creativity For Healing.
Now the teaching/instruction focus in my studio or on location is helping people understand, explore and express themselves with art. I am privileged to see wonderful ‘ah ha’ moments in every single class I teach as I create a safe space for people to feel at home and connect with their interior world. I continue to work on my portrait paintings and commissions, as well as helping unleash creativity and wellness in others.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No! A few years after starting my art business, I had a very serious car crash that messed up my back so much that I simply could not stand and paint at my easel without being in agony. Rather than stop creating, I moved to paint smaller pieces at a table, but it was not the same as the movement and energy at the easel. That accident was a serious roadblock but it showed me that I really wanted to paint and wouldn’t let anything stop me.
Another bump in the road was when I needed to take my youngest son, who has autism, out of the high school special education unit to work one to one with him at home. He had regressed to the point where serious intervention was needed. So I closed the academy, said a tearful goodbye to my students, and galleries that sold my paintings, and closed my art business. If I found any moments to paint it was purely for pleasure, and I had no idea whether we could get our family to the stage where I could work full-time as an artist again.
But in that process of doing intense brain work with my son, I learned so much more about the neuroplasticity of the brain, its ability to bring healing, and how to help someone with trauma. As it turned out, this ‘bump in the road’ would serve me well when I re-opened my art business in January 2022. I can provide a healing art environment to groups in my studio, on location, and by partnering with other organizations, such as Invisible Wounds Project- a non-profit serving first responders.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I mainly paint oil portraits of children and love portrait commissions where I can really go beyond the physical appearance and try to capture the essence/heart of someone. I am particularly known for how I paint eyes, and the happy, vibrant feeling my paintings carry. As far as teaching, I take a few private students for portrait painting, but I mainly focus on my therapeutic art practice in my studio, at White Bear Centre for The Arts, or on location at retreats.
I am known for being able to create a safe place for people to be able to connect with themselves, give voice to what’s inside, express themselves in a healthy way, find calm, and provide a trauma-informed art experience. I consider this a great honor and am very proud of this work. My mission is to convince as many people as possible that art is for everyone. It has a huge impact on mental health and wellness and should be a part of all of our lives.
Several years ago I undertook a commission for a charity working with teen orphans in Russia. I painted a series of images that are used in their therapy sessions and which hang and a permanent display in their central location. I traveled to Russia to see the work the charity was undertaking, meet people and get my initial inspiration before starting the paintings. To think that those paintings are helping people on the other side of the world is amazing.
Currently, I am working on publishing a book called ‘Awakening Whole Brain Faith’ – an interactive guide to using your creative right brain as well as your intellectual left brain, in order to experience God in deeper ways. I hope to launch the book in November.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I don’t believe you can accomplish anything too significant without taking a risk- at least that’s what I’ve found. The freer and more healed up I get, the more risks I will take. It’s wonderful! Many of the things we call ‘risk’ involve a threat to our ego, and the more that falls away, the less risky things seem. Every time I show my art and participate in a show, my ego whispers “What if?’ ‘What if people don’t think it’s any good? What if you don’t win a prize? What if no one turns up?’
Nowadays I have learned to pay no attention to that voice, and instead, I say, “What’s the worst that can happen?” And the answer usually is nothing much! At least, nothing but bruised ego, and I can live with that! Ok, I may feel silly if no one shows up, but how bad is that really? If you are healed up enough to not need to be noticed, recognized or praised, or admired, then you are free to take risks.
These things just aren’t the foundation of my life. It’s liberating. And if we don’t fear failure there is something to learn in every situation, even if it doesn’t turn out the way we hoped. We can live with freedom and bravery if we choose to practice that. My faith has been the biggest source of freedom to take risks- because really when I know God loves and accepts me, I already have the most important thing in life.
When I restarted my business last year I could tangibly feel the risk and could easily have stayed hidden and not put myself out there again. But as I prayed and journaled, an image popped into my head which I scribbled down. It was me, walking a tightrope across a giant canyon. That’s what it felt like starting again. But what I drew then was an equally giant net underneath the tightrope, and I felt the reassurance that even if I wobbled and fell, I would be caught. I often think of that image when I feel a ‘wobble’ coming on, and it gets me back out there again.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.abbanart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbanart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janegrantabban and https://www.facebook.com/thiscreativekingdom
- Other: https://www.abbanart.com/page/38967/healing-art
Image Credits
Olivia Abban
