Janel Schelzel

Janel Schelzel was born near Thief River Falls, Minnesota. She spent her childhood in Ecuador, Germany, and Pennsylvania, but most of her life she has lived in South Minneapolis. Because she grew up in Ecuador, much of her work is inspired by the observation of culture and subcultures. This experience inspired a deep need to understand the physical world and our collective human experience. She is interested in how meaning and identity are both created and obscured within the context of cultures. Her work is often a collection of ideas, with its own visual language, depicted in a series of paintings or prints.

Janel went to Roosevelt High School and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2005 with a degree in Art. She taught art part time, which inspired a season of technical drawing, painting, and printmaking. Her work is colorful, expressive, and sometimes abstracted. The ideas expressed from year to year vary, but the reoccurring theme is always a sense of balance and calm.