About the Artist
A constant work in progress...
Jan has loved the art of the portrait as long as she can remember, along with drawings and paintings in general. The small, rural community of Parkers Prairie, Minnesota where she resided with her parents and 7 siblings didn’t offer much by way of an art education at that time. Jan initially began as a music major at Moorhead State College, but after some art classes at UW Milwaukee Wisc, UC Santa Monica Calif, College of St. Catherines in St. Paul, and the U of MN, she eventually got a degree in art in 1978 from Bethel College in St. Paul.
After college and working and living in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, Jan moved to Greenwich, Connecticut and eventually worked full-time as a graphic designer at 3 different trade magazine publishing companies. During her 11 years there she added to her fine art experience by taking classes at the Art Students League in New York City, The Silvermine School of Art in New Canaan, and at State U of NY, Purchase.
Jan married Todd Matthews in 1990 and moved to Enfield CT. She became an active member of the Tobacco Valley Artists Association (TVAA), taking workshops from visiting artists and other area art classes. She facilitated an artist’s open studio and received great joy drawing portraits from willing participants at a local nursing home.
In 1993, Jan and her husband moved to Montreal, Quebec where they resided in Dollard-des-Ormeaux on the West Island until 1998. In the five years they lived there, Jan joined the Artists’ Association of Dollard and enjoyed an open live-model studio at Beaconsfield Stewart Hall Cultural Center. In 1994 Jan and Todd were blessed with the birth of their only child, Michelle.
Todd’s job took them to Wichita KS for one year and then Plano TX in 1999 where they reside today. With her daughter now grown and on her own, Jan has created a home studio and has enjoyed a variety of art workshops in the last few years including pastels with Rita Kirkman and Marian Hirsch, watercolors with Michael Holter, and oils with Don Mullins, Gene Dillard, Anna Rose Bain, Judy Gelfort and Nancy Boren. Besides enjoying periodic plein air outings, Jan has been a regular at Thursday Night Live Plano, an open live-model studio, and has participated in shows and events with the Richardson Civic Art Society (RCAS), the Pastel Society of the Southwest (PSSW), and the Plano Artist Association (PAA). She enjoys a variety of subjects but finds portraits and figurative works are still a favorite in all mediums.
