Caracol Clay Studio

Janet Grabner graduated with distinction from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1989. She currently creates from her studio in East Coulee, located in the heart of Alberta's Badlands near Drumheller: the Dinosaur Capital of Canada.

Much of Janet's inspiration comes from living in East Coulee, with its hoodoos, fossils, and unique scenery. The fossil imagery that she creates is inspired by the natural world and the transformation that has occurred where she lives. Many trips to the ocean have enhanced this vision.

Janet's studio, Caracol, is named for the Spanish word for snail shell. It is the intrinsic qualities of the shell and other natural objects that are her inspiration. Her work is hand formed using porcelain to represent shell or bone and stoneware clay to represent stone. For Janet the shell symbolizes life, death, evolution and transformation.