Janealla Smalley grew up in Findlay, OH. As a student, she won several prizes for her artwork, including a Gold Key in the Scholastic Art Awards. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and her Master of Arts from Bowling Green State University, and began teaching art at Indian Lake, OH. Over the next several years, she taught in Arcadia, OH, and Findlay, and for the past twenty-four years has been the art teacher at St. Wendelin High School, Fostoria, OH.

As National Honor Society Adviser at St. Wendelin, Janealla oversaw the rewriting of the organization’s bylaws and directed the development of leadership skills in the students. She helped develop a Muse Machine organization to bring cultural performances to the school and to take students to orchestral, dramatic, and dance performances. Janealla helped develop the Art Curriculum for the Diocese of Toledo. She has worked with the Ohio Arts Council to bring practicing artists to St. Wendelin to work with the students. A large mural depicting the history of Fostoria is in the school cafeteria as a result of this effort.  During another residency, students created a ceramic tile installation in the school lobby illustrating values like Love, Creativity, Individuality, and Community.

Janealla is listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.  In 2007, she was awarded the Rotary Golden Apple Award for Fostoria.  Her own photography, paintings, and drawings have been exhibited in local galleries, and she has won several awards from the Findlay Art League. She has had work exhibited in the Ohio Art Educators Exhibit sponsored by Marietta College, Marietta, OH, at the State Teachers Retirement System in Columbus, OH, at Wassenberg Art Center, Van Wert, OH, and at ArtSpace Lima, Lima, OH.  She had a one-person show at the Wesley Gallery, Fostoria, OH, in 2007, and is scheduled for a show at Owens Community College in October, 2007.

As Education Director of the Findlay Art League, Janealla schedules classes and hires teachers for adult and children’s classes and also teaches classes herself. She feels comfortable working in a wide variety of media, but her preference is transparent watercolor.  She maintains a studio on the second floor of the historic Jones Building in downtown Findlay where she produces her work and makes it available for sale to the public.

Janealla lives in Findlay, and has four grown children and six grandchildren.  She attends the Findlay Evangelical Free Church, where she sings in the choir and has helped create Vacation Bible School decorations for the past several summers.