User:Danithegreat/Janine Layton Kimmel

Janine Layton Kimmel ... Author and visionary artist, Janine Layton Kimmel, is a registered nurse with a B.S. in human development, and has a background in obstetrics (Labor and Delivery) and Intensive Care neonatology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She received a master’s degree in transpersonal studies from The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California in 1997. Her thesis, a book entitled Pale Blue Connection, is based upon her original concept of “Initiation Art”. She created six sculptures from 1993 to 1997, which connects change and experience with the creative process deepening self-awareness. She has studied with cross-cultural anthropologist Angeles Arrien Ph.D., Sausalito, CA. and Patrick O'Neill of Extraordinary Conversations, Toronto, Canada since 1991 and has extensive training in conflict resolution. In 1993, she led poetry workshops for the third through eighth grade students, helping them create their own poetry inspired by nature, music and their imagination, including ninety-nine culturally diverse eighth-grade students in ‘Project Writing Link, a federally funded grant program in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The grant was awarded to improve interracial and intercultural understanding. In 1996, she led Dream workshops in the Forrestdale School, Rumson, New Jersey for fifth-grade students who created multimedia art from their dreams.

In February of 1998, she began to paint a series of vibrantly colorful doorways, which would later be the inspiration for her illustrated children’s book, The Magic Gown, winner of six awards, including Book of the Year 2009 for ages 8-12, Creative Child Magazine.

In 2000 Kimmel had her first “Magic Gown Project” art installation when she donated four giclee prints to the Center in Asbury Park, New Jersey, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS. Intending to bring a sense of magic and wonder to the imaginative process, Janine is pursuing funding for the “Magic Gown Project” to donate installations of the prints of the original ten doorway paintings to children’s hospitals, treatment centers and public spaces. In June 2005 Kimmel donated an installation to The Anna House, a non-profit day care center at Belmont Park, Elmont, New York. The most recent installation is at the Stony Brook University Medical Center, Pediatrics, in Stony Brook, New York (2009).

In January 2011, the children’s short story book in Italian, ‘L’Irresistibile Richiamo Dell’ Acciuga’ by David Ceccarelli and J.L. Kimmel was released and received an Honorable Mention award “Prato Un Tessuto Di Culture Ed. 2011’.

In March 2011, J.L. Kimmel was awarded a grant from the Angeles Arrien Foundation for Cross-Cultural Research and Education to send each child at The Thai Freedom House in Chiang Mai, Thailand a copy of “The Magic Gown’” and her original Magic Doorway Booklet. The Thai Freedom House is a community language and arts learning center for refugees from Burma and Indigenous Peoples. The donation was made in honor of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi for her courage, elegance and unyielding determination to stand by her principles of human dignity.

Kimmel’s art was exhibited in the two-man show “Pieces of a Dream” at the Oakland Street Gallery in Red Bank, New Jersey in January 2000. A second show of her work was held at the same gallery in November of 2000 for their “2nd Annual Retrospective.” In August 2003, Kimmel presented “A Summer Exhibit,” a collection of over fifty-five paintings, illustrations and sculptures at her studio in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, marking the first “Magic Gown Collection” presentation. She has had several gallery shows, such as Beauregard Fine Art (2008), Rumson New Jersey and Vickers Gallery, St. James New York. From August 2009- January 2010 her ‘Magic Gown’ collection and more (24 paintings) was showcased at Raymond James & Assoc. of Red Bank, New Jersey as “Art In the Workplace’.

Kimmel’s work has been shown internationally, by invitation from Daniele D’Ambrosi (2009 and 2010) in ‘Incontro con l’Art’, Cantagallo, Tuscany, Italy. Her art has been described as having a visionary quality suggesting an altered magical reality where lush blossoming vines, vibrant colorful forests, and luminous animals and birds will “invite” you into their world.

Janine, the mother of two sons, lives in Locust, New Jersey. Her next children’s fiction co-created with Italian artist and author David Ceccarelli will be released in September 2012. She is currently working on the sequel to The Magic Gown. She travels frequently giving diverse workshops for children emphasizing the connection to nature and creativity, imagination, story-telling, dreams and poetry in the local area. She has presented workshops at the Red Bank Public Primary and Middle School, Rumson Country Day School, Ocean Township Middle School, Deal School, Asbury Park School System, Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County, the Pajama Program @ Poricy Park, the Monmouth County Libraries, Atlantic Highlands Library, Whole Foods Markets, in New Jersey and New York, Dearborn Market, and the Monmouth County Park System at Deep Cut Botanical Gardens. Kimmel has been the guest of private young readers’ book clubs as well as presenting numerous signings at Borders and Barnes & Noble book stores in Maryland and Virginia.