Ajax artist Joan Bontje paints with the flow

by Allan O'Marra, Ajax Pickering News Advertiser

Artist Joan Bontje consciously and regularly cultivates practises that keep her "in flow" as a painter and art teacher. She defines flow as "accepting what comes out as it should." To that end she has, over the years, enrolled in numerous art and therapy courses that expand her creatively and emotionally. She takes regular walks in the ever-changing natural world on the shores of Lake Ontario near her home in south Ajax; she meditates on a regular basis; and she plays inspiring classical music while working in her well-equipped home studio. For her the artistic journey is to learn to be still, to listen within, and to move oneself out of the way of the creative flow that is available to us all. And she ardently believes that we all can be artists: it's just a matter of tapping into that creative source and expressing ourselves—with a little practical training thrown in—with the flow that can surface.

And she brings this principle of individual creative purpose to her art instruction: for children, in sketching, painting, cartooning, clay work, collaging and design classes; and watercolour painting for adults in classes she holds in a special art room she has set up in her home. With children, rather than teaching broadly to a roomful of students, she concentrates on individualizing the instruction so as to draw out of them their own themes.

Bontje began her professional life as an insurance broker, working in Toronto and then later in the Cambridge area. Although she had no formal artistic training—she recalls finding a natural affinity for paint and paper even in kindergarten and drew and painted throughout her school years—she abandoned the business life after a decade and began painting and teaching, motivated by love of art and a natural ability. She and husband Brian moved to Ajax in 2005 and she plunged into the Durham Region art scene, joining various art groups and participating in group and individual shows. She is currently concentrating on producing paintings for three upcoming exhibitions: the first a one-day event at the Chanterelle Bistro in Bowmanville on May 2; then she will participate in the art exhibition at the Cobourg Waterfront Festival in early July; and will follow with an October solo show at the Rotary Room in the Ajax Library's main branch.

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Joan Bontje, Watercolour & Mixed Media Artist

Joan enjoys instructing children and adults helping them bring out their artistic natures. She regularly holds classes in design, sketching, painting, cartooning, clay work, collage work and watercolour.  

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