Janice Merendino
Art Form(s):Artist Statement
Students in my drawing workshops step beyond their self-imposed limitations and branch out into areas where they thought they lacked skills. While they are enjoying learning to draw, they are gaining visual literacy and confidence. Then they can apply their new creative abilities to solving problems in other areas of their lives.
Artist Bio
Janice Merendino, the Founder and Director of The Branch Out Project, is a professional artist, college professor, and one of five founders of The Clay Studio in Philadelphia. She has designed and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the fine arts and visual literacy at Rosemont College since 1980. She has also designed and taught workshops for Accessible Programs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art since 1998 and has conducted workshops for Young Audiences since 2005.
As director of The Branch Out Project, Janice conducts creativity workshops for major corporations and government agencies (including the US Navy, GlaxoSmithKline, Wyeth Ayerst, and TIAA-CREF), for community non-profit groups, and in schools for students and teachers.
Janice has co-authored two articles on how drawing can enhance creativity and the practice of law in Altman Weil Inc. Report to Legal Management. She also co-authored an article published in the 2010 issue of Museums & Social Issues A Journal of Reflective Discourse entitled, Accessible Programs Workshops At The Philadelphia Museum of Art
