Janine Vangool: Building an Empire
What did you use to do during recess?
In my early elementary school years, I was enamoured with learning to write, and so I remember keeping a notebook and writing and drawing in it during recess. For many years, school society wasn’t a welcoming place for me, so I found kinship, comfort and purpose in my notebook. By high school, I found others who shared in my interests and spent many recesses as the yearbook editor. It was still the days of paste-up and analog photography, so it was a lot of hands-on fun.
Did you think of yourself as a creative kid? What does creativity look like for you these days?
I have always been a maker and creative person. As a child, I loved sewing, needlework, sketching and watercolours. I used to make little stapled booklets with my own stories and crafts and made a tiny magazine called “Crafts™”—yes, even with a trademark symbol! Although I also considered a career in science or education, I opted to follow my passion for words and pictures and became a graphic designer. I worked freelance for art and culture clients for a dozen years before realizing I could do what I dreamt as a young girl: make my own magazine and books!
These days, creativity is the foundation for my publishing career. Even when I’m sometimes too busy with the details and demands of being an entrepreneur to do any hands-on making, I am happy to be uplifting the creative works of others. And when I have some free time, I enjoy sewing, crochet and collecting.
What do you hope your kids will learn about creativity from you?
I started the magazine in 2009 and my son was born the following year. He has been an integral part of my creative life—he inspires me to look for fun and motivates me to always make sure my time is focused and well-spent when I’m working. I already know that he is learning important lessons about creativity: that it requires a lot of work and it is a lifelong pursuit. I hope he will learn by observing me that it is joyful, fulfilling and can be a wonderful career.
If you had a free hour, how would you spend it? What about a free day?
If I have a free hour, I like to play piano. Because music engages a completely different sense than my day-to-day highly visual work, it is very relaxing to sit down at the keys to noodle around or learn a new piece of music. With an entire free day, I’d be sure to take a long, soothing bath in the middle of the day. I’d read an excellent novel and spend some time outside with my family and our new puppy.
Janine Vangool is the publisher, editor and designer of UPPERCASE. Her magazine and books celebrate the process of making, the commitment to craft and the art of living creatively. Janine got her start working as a freelance graphic designer for arts and culture clients and has also taught typography and publication design at the college level. She has been a shop owner and bookseller, gallery curator, sold a line of greeting cards wholesale, made 10,000 books by hand (with lots of help!) and has sewn her own products for retail. She has four fabric collections with Windham Fabrics. She lives with her husband and their 13-year-old son in Calgary, Canada.
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Hi! I’m Heidi. Writer. Editor. Mother. I’m interviewing 100 creative mothers, because I believe the more we see other mothers making beauty and meaning in small moments, the more we will be inspired to make our own kind of art, whatever that may look like during this intense season of life. Support the project by sharing with a friend.