Who is Janet Ashford? a brief biography with links to publications and projects

Who is Janet Ashford

I am a freelance writer, designer, artist and folk musician. I was born Janet Lynn Isaacs in Los Angeles on February 9, 1949. My mother, Alice Gordon Munro, was a first grade teacher and of Scottish/English descent and my father, John Prichard Isaacs was an electrical engineer and of Scottish/Welsh descent. My younger brother Doug and I were raised in Compton, south of Los Angeles, which had an excellent public school music education program during the 1950s and 60s. I started playing the violin in 4th grade and played in orchestras through my school years. I attended the University of Southern California as a Music major for two years, and finished a B.A. degree in Psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles.

In 1973 I moved to San Diego where I met Victor Ashford, a high-energy particle physicist, whom I married. We were married for 23 years and lived in Illinois, Long Island, Silicon Valley, and San Diego, following Vic's work at Fermi National Accelerator Lab, Brookhaven National Lab, Stanford Linear Accelerator Lab and the University of California at San Diego. Our three children are Rufus Douglas Ashford (1976); Florence Jean Ashford (1980); and Molly Elizabeth Ashford, (1988).We separated in 1991 and divorced in 1995.

In 1999 Molly and I moved to Mendocino, on the coast in Northern California. Very unexpectedly, in March 2003, Victor died of cancer of the pancreas. Later in the year I met Gerardo Efrain Ortiz-Pena, a native of Ecuador, and we married in April 2004. Gerardo, Molly and I continue to live in Mendocino, along with my brother Doug, who moved in with us in December 2005. Florrie lives in San Diego where she is working with letterpress printing. Rufus and his girlfriend Tasha Ornelas live in San Francisco with their daughter Aftan Jeannine Ashford (my first grandchild!) who was born on April 5, 2005.

Through giving birth to my children at home I became interested in alternatives to medical childbirth and spent about 10 years writing and publishing books and other materials on home birth and midwifery including The Whole Birth Catalog (Crossing Press, 1983) and Birth Stories: The Experience Remembered (Crossing Press, 1984). From 1979 to 1988 I edited and published Childbirth Alternatives Quarterly, which is archived at the National Library of Congress. My satirical short story, Natural Love, is included in Cyborg Babies: From Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots (Routledge, 1998). I also wrote the script and gathered the artwork for a documentary video, The Timeless Way: A History of Birth from Ancient to Modern Times (InJoy Videos, 1998).

I currently sell copies of Natural Love, a science fiction parody on sex in the hospital, George Engelmann and "Primitive Birth", a booklet on the birth posture research of a 19th century American doctor, and sets of notecards with birth history illustrations. I am hoping to write a book on the history of childbirth, using the over 500 historical images of birth in art that I've collected over the years.

In addition to this writing, and my continuing interest in music, I have always been interested in art and have made drawings and paintings throughout my life, working with watercolor, pen-and-ink, oils, acrylics, and silk screen. Since the 70s I have also taken many photographs and currently sell photo greeting cards and prints. Since 1988 I have worked as a computer-based graphic designer and illustrator and have written many how-to books and articles on computer graphics. I am the co-author of seven books on computer graphics:

The Arts and Crafts Computer: Using Your Computer as an Artist's Tool (Peachpit, 2002)

Start with a Scan, 2nd edition (Peachpit, 2000),

Getting Started with 3D: A Designer's Guide to 3D Graphics and Illustration (Peachpit, 1998),

Start with a Scan: A Guide to Transforming Scanned Photos and Objects into High Quality Art (Peachpit, 1996),

Adobe Illustrator: A Visual Guide for the Mac (Graphic-Sha/Addison-Wesley, 1995),

Aldus PageMaker: A Visual Guide for the Mac (Graphic-Sha/Addison-Wesley, 1994), and

The Verbum Book of PostScript Illustration (M & T Books, 1990).

Also, since 1989 I have written how-to articles on computer graphics for MacUser, MacWorld, Print, Step-By-Step Electronic Design, Step-By-Step Graphics and Dynamic Graphics. I have worked as a graphic designer, created designs for books, newsletters, brochures and CD packages, and have produced original illustrations for posters, textbooks, and magazines. I have taught computer graphics at College of the Redwoods in Mendocino and at Zeum in San Francisco. I regularly teach computer graphics classes at the Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino.

I am also a musician and I composed and performed the original music for the interactive Photo CD that accompanies The Official Photo CD Handbook (Peachpit Press, 1995). I play fiddle with Calliope Creek, performing for weddings, parties, festivals, gallery openings and so on.

I performed on two albums with bands based in San Diego: Historians Differ (Celtic music) with Lime in the Harp and Flowers of Our Lost Romance, an album of early California music with Los Californios.