In third grade, Jeanette Revote wrote a story foreshadowing her life. “The Pig Who Wanted to Dance Ballet” is simple and sweet: Unlike the other pigs, who wanted to play in the mud and do what society expected of them, this pig wanted to wear ballet shoes and dance.
Today, Jeanette is not a ballet dancer but an artist who makes masterpieces out of wood. She didn’t do what was expected. She followed her passion, and it became her career.
Jeanette and her family moved to Plano 20 years ago when she was in middle school. The daughter of a nurse and a programmer, she gravitated towards finding creative solutions and would constantly do things her own way.
“When I took piano lessons, I was the kid who wanted to compose rather than play what was written,” Jeanette says.
And she did; in seventh grade, Jeanette had a piece of music copyrighted and performed it during her recital.
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After graduating from Plano West, Jeanette had planned to pursue a medical degree but soon realized it wasn’t her true calling.
When she switched to architecture at the University of Texas at Arlington, something finally clicked and she decided to re-invest herself in visual arts. She enrolled in elective classes like painting, black and white photography and sculpting and discovered her greatest talent when she began building models for her architecture classes. She fell in love with wood as her medium.
After graduating UTA, she embarked on a new journey: life as a single mother. With her son on the way, she wasn’t able to pursue a full-time architecture career and found herself creating pieces of art purely out of love. Her passion turned into a paycheck when her work started to get noticed and she began to have a steady flow of commissions.
Her main materials are paint, resin and wood. She starts digitally, using a laser cutter to craft and cut her design. She then paints and assembles each piece before framing them. She makes about two a month and when she’s working, she’s fully consumed by her creative process.
“I feel most alive when I’m completely focused and fully immersed in my work.” Jeanette says. “Expanding my mind through art is what keeps me going.”
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Recently, Jeanette created her biggest and most public piece to-date: a mural in Deep Ellum. The Instagram-worthy piece can be found on a corner that faces the DART Green Line. While based on her most popular geometric piece, “Doyenne”, the mural is actually a self portrait.
“It was a spontaneous decision,” she says. “I ended up making a few tweaks on my original design to resemble my facial characteristics more.” Jeanette loves that it greets commuters every day on their way into work.
“Art should be available for anyone and everyone,” she says. “Art brings the community closer together.”
Follow Jeanette at facebook.com/matriartstudio and on Instagram as @matriart_studio. Her mural can be found on the Break and Clutch Building at Exposition Ave. and Main Street in Dallas.
