Jan grew up in a Finnish-American family in a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan surrounded by the beauty of Lake Superior. She was taught the values of simplicity, organization, and a good pun. She graduated from Michigan Technological University and was a software professional by trade.
She spent her earlier life as an artist wannabe living in such places as upstate New York and Paris before settling in Seattle over 20 years ago. After many years as a successful commercial software executive, she found another passion to augment her creativity – watercolor painting.
Jan has developed a minimalistic abstract style with a wry sense of humor representative of her Finnish-American roots. Her paintings have been featured in numerous solo and group shows in the Pacific Northwest including the Kirkland Library, Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, the city of Renton’s Carco Theatre, and Pratt Fine Arts Center. She is represented by the artEAST Gallery in Issaquah, WA, and the Ghost Gallery in Seattle, WA, and Tsuga Fine Art & Framing in Bothell, WA.
Jan was the winner of the 2013 William Radcliffe Studio Challenge Award at Kirkland Arts Center’s REDUX Auction, and is a past recipient of the Vascovitz Family Scholarship for Drawing and Painting at the Pratt Fine Arts Center. She is a member of Pratt Fine Arts Center, Evergreen Association of Fine Arts, artEAST, and the Northwest Collage Society.
You can see more information about her work at http://www.dajanarts.com.
