Janice Sylvia Brock was born in Manchester and still lives in the area. Her painting career started as therapy in hospital, where she spent much of her adolescence suffering from Still’s Disease, a painful and crippling form of arthritis. Her fight back to health left her with two artificial knees, limited use of many of her joints and unquenchable optimism and determination towards everything she does. After kidney failure, she was given only five years to live – 25 years ago!
Her illness prevented her taking up an offer of a place at Manchester College of Art, although she has since coached undergraduates in techniques of working in oils, her favoured medium, as well as graphite, watercolour and pastel. She has held art therapy classes in prisons, psychiatric hospitals and residential homes, empathising with those for whom survival is a constant struggle, and each year she raises thousands of pounds for charities in this field. Her ambition is to help disabled children in the Caribbean, and a therapy room at the Barbados Children’s Development Centre is currently being set up with money she has raised.
Janice Sylvia Brock’s paintings are a celebration of life: sensuality, fertility and fruitfulness nurtured in the Caribbean hothouse. Indeed the cycle of life can be traced in many of her works: succulent fruit, the sensuality of the male and female forms. Women, children and family groups are also favourite subjects. Janice has the unique gift of eloquently expressing in paint her love of life. Her figures are always redolent of sensuality and voluptuousness, and body language is emphasised by the characteristic lack of facial detail.
Janice Sylvia Brock’s work is in great demand both in the United Kingdom and in the Caribbean, and it hangs in private collections in the USA, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Collectors of her work include the Dukes of Westminster and Devonshire, and two pieces hang in America’s White House. Bearing in mind her remarkable background, she is also in great demand as a public speaker, noted both for her charisma and for her ability to inspire others who face major challenges. She has won many awards, appeared on many television programmes and in many magazines, and is currently working on her autobiography
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