Abbeville native tripling the value of oysters by painting oyster portraits

After dining at Dragos one evening, the already talented Jill Jansa looked at the large oyster shell left from the oysters she and her husband Alex just enjoyed and decided to use them for her art.
“The shells were such nice shapes that I thought I’d try to paint a crawfish on it,” Jansa said. “The crawfish turned out so well, so from there, I just started experimenting, and now I’m confident that I can fit pretty much anything on an oyster shell.”
As a middle school student, Jansa always painted on and off. Still, after having an exceptional art teacher in Jeannie Comeaux from childhood until she left for college, she has been painting much more consistently for the past three years.
“I don’t think I inherited any of my art skills, but I do think that I passed them on to my 8-year-old niece, Opal; she is very impressive for her age when it comes to art,” Jansa said.
What had began as just a “Let us try and see” painting on an oyster shell has brought Jansa’s art to the forefront of her artistic abilities.
Oysters in Louisiana are much of a delicacy for many and having something special painted on them by Jansa, brings much more of an appreciation to the popular oyster shell instead of discarding them.
What exactly does it entail?
Jansa and her mother get together on the weekend and sift through shells that restaurants throw out back to find the best ones.
“Once we collect them, we boil them for an hour, scrub them clean and then soak them in bleach and vinegar for 24 hours to ensure that they are super clean,” Jansa said.
But it doesn’t stop there. A lot goes into the art, and Jansa knows it’s worth it.
“Each oyster takes anywhere from five to eight hours to paint,” she said. “I know it seems like a long time for such a small thing, but I like to try to make them as detailed and precise as possible.”
As her stock generally consists of Catholic imagery or local Louisiana imagery, she has been taking commissions for portraits of both people and pets lately.
Some other popular requests are people’s houses and churches that couples were married in.
“I also paint with acrylics on canvas and watercolor on paper. I’ve done portraits with both of those mediums, and I enjoy them all equally, but the oysters seem to be the most popular right now.”
The artist is married to her “infinitely patient” husband, Alex, who shares a love for art along with her.
“He’s a high school Art and Spanish teacher and is also an excellent artist, who I met in Greece,” Jansa thinks back. “He loves me so much that he moved to Abbeville from Vienna, Austria, and together we share an adorable rescue dog named John.”
The Jansas don’t juggle too much, but after moving into their first house last month in New Orleans, and having a room dedicated to an art studio for Jill, she couldn’t help but be excited to be able to explore more of her talents and her thoughts. Unfortunately, since then, Hurricane Ida has put a literal damper on those plans as the couple was set back a few months to get the house fully functional and set up.
“Though all of this set us back a bit, we still consider ourselves very lucky,” said Jansa. “We need to gut a few rooms and replace our roof, but our house is still habitable and, most importantly, still standing.
The 37-year-old was born and raised in Abbeville. She moved to New Orleans for college and decided to make a home there with her husband as she works as a full-time Diagnostic Medical Sonographer for an imaging clinic in Metairie.
“I spend the vast majority of my free time painting, which I love, but I’m hoping that one day I’ll be able to go 50/50 with sonography and painting. That’s the goal,” Jansa said.
As Hurricane Ida roared through southeast Louisiana, she brought mayhem and cursing destruction. People were forced to evacuate, bringing many former Abbeviliians back home. Among those were Jillian Kosarek, Jansa and her husband, Alex. Jansa’s evacuation after the storm was necessary, but it provided her with the time and opportunity to concentrate on painting, an activity that she loved. Unfortunately, her job had rarely allowed time for creative work.
Jansa is now using this time at her mother’s home in Abbeville to paint canvases of Cajun Madonnas and beautifully detailed works of art, of local landscapes and portraits of local people on oyster shells right from the Abbeville community.
While causing great destruction, Hurricane Ida has not dampened the spirit of those who evacuated and survived.
Pricing for Jansa’s oyster creations is very affordable. Custom shells are $50 and $75 for what’s already in Jansa’s stock. Jansa’s inventory generally consists of Catholic imagery or local, but she does take commissions for portraits.