For Keeps

SNAP is pleased to present For Keeps, featuring new work by Jeanette Johns. The exhibition runs from January 17 – February 21, 2026 at SNAP Gallery. 

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 17, 7-9 pm

Artist Talk: January 17, 6-7 pm

Artist Statement

My research is rooted in observation with a particular interest in illusions and 2D representations of the natural world. I use simple images or forms, especially those suggesting landscape, architecture, or their innate structures such as horizon lines, stairs, and windows, to point to how we observe and move through space.

I like viewers to be reminded of the scientific conventions and logical principles that govern our understanding of the world but also reveal how natural phenomena can be made intelligible in more poetic ways. By applying traditional craft techniques to these ideas, the possibilities within understanding begin to expand.

I have been learning to work with foraged plant material to dye yarn for my weavings and have most recently brought that knowledge to making my own screen-printing ink with plant dyes and thickeners. My interest in “found” colour is in the same sphere as the auto-didactic of craft that is rooted in passed-down knowledge and skills. It makes me wonder about the deep attachment that our psyche has to the presence of the natural world. How we are drawn to recreate contemplative environments in the form of repeated motifs, colours and patterns to essentially “find” rest. The physical and psychological always interacting.

I often work in the confines of printmaking onto paper, though for the past couple of years I have been integrating woven material into my practice. There is a rich dialogue between their histories, and I am particularly interested in the visual and conceptual parallels between the two: the constraints of working with a limited number of lines/pixels/threads per inch in both crafts, playing with optics, geometries, and permutations with patterns and bitmaps. There is an inherent auto-didacticism with these practices, as well as challenges of material, meditative repetition, and intergenerational and community wisdom. This offers a useful perspective on the conventions of science and logic.

The pieces in For Keeps reveal visual vibrations and how they influence on our perception of space. They also reference the use of samples in weaving and how they relate to value, knowledge, and creation. The patterns create a gateway to investigation—how do samples test limits and iterate permutations while not necessarily knowing when or if it will become a finished work. The idea of a sample interests me because it highlights the potential inherent in a process; it is dense with information and an invitation to repeat or go further.

About the Artist

Jeanette Johns grew up in Treaty 1 Territory/Winnipeg and currently lives in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. As a visual artist she often works within the confines of printmaking and weaving. She has taken part in residencies and exhibitions across Canada and internationally, most recently at Engramme (2025), Centre Clark (2023) and as a Montreal resident at Fonderie Darling with a solo exhibition in 2021. She holds a BFA honours from the University of Manitoba and an MFA in Print Media from Concordia University.