Jan Jewell has expressed her creativity with different art forms throughout her life. The first public exhibition of her work was a six-week show at the Dallas (Texas) Museum of Fine Arts as winner of a high-school art competition. She studied with Knud Holst Andersen, one of Denmark's top silversmiths; and then apprenticed with Ellen Margarete Brøker, a goldsmith in Copenhagen, Denmark, before earning a degree in Fine Art with a specialization in metalsmithing from the University of Houston, Texas.

 

After a successful fifteen-year career in fine jewelry with a loyal clientele in Boston, Houston, Honolulu and the San Francisco Bay Area, Jan switched gears and co-founded the nation’s largest direct marketer of children’s party supplies and fifth largest party supply manufacturer. Celebrate Express (Birthday Express) went public on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in 2004. Initially Jan was responsible for all merchandising, graphic illustration and product development, as well as marketing materials including the company’s catalog and website. As the company grew, she supervised a creative department of over a dozen artists. Jan wrote and co-illustrated a children’s book entitled Meri’s Dream. She was featured for her entrepreneurial and artistic abilities on the Oprah Winfrey Show, in People Magazine, the Washington Post, Puget Sound Business Journal, USA Today, and in various other national publications. 

 

After retiring from Birthday Express, Jan designed and built a lodge-style timber-frame home on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State using native hardwoods and local granite. Set in a magnificent temperate rain-forest filled with enormous trees, lakes, and waterfalls; with the Olympic Mountains providing a snow-capped backdrop, this home is a continual source of inspiration and wonder. She then designed a Mediterranean Style home in the Seattle area on Lake Washington. 

 

Jan has continued her creative pursuits by focusing on representational oil painting. With a strong desire to learn the distinctive techniques of artists she admires, Jan has had the fortunate opportunity to study with many respected artists including Jeremy Lipking, Scott Christensen, Ovanes Berberian, Ned Mueller, Alexander Zimin, Timothy Rees, and Daniel Keys among others. She spent two years as the president of Plein Air Washington. Finding plein air painting to be exhilarating, she has traveled on painting adventures either with groups, or solo to the United Kingdom, Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Hawaii and all over her home of Washington State.  Jan has four grown children, and lives in the Seattle, Washington area.

 

SELECTED EXHIBITS AND AWARDS:

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• June 2018: Plein Air Southwest – Rockport, TX

• December 2017: Portrait Society of America 2017 Member’s Only Competition

  • Awarded Finalist in the Outside the Box Category for “Thomas Kitts Painting Fishing Platforms on the Columbia River”

• November 2017: PAWA Valleys to Vineyards Exhibition, American Art Company, Tacoma, WA,

  • Awarded “Best Plein Air” for “Tonquin Valley”

• November 2017: Scott Milo Gallery, Anacortes, WA – Landscapes Exhibition

• August 2017: Pacific Northwest Plein Air Juried Competition in the Columbia River Gorge at Maryhill Museum, WA

• February 2017: Scott Milo Gallery, Anacortes, WA – Still Life Exhibition

• November 2016: Oil Painters of America Western Regional Exhibition, Scottsdale, AZ

• November 2016: PAWA A National Parks Salute Exhibition, American Art Company, Tacoma, WA

  • Awarded Honorable Mention for “White Mountain at Yosemite National Park Study”

  • Awarded 3rd Place for “White Mountain at Yosemite”

• August 2016: Pacific Northwest Plein Air Juried Competition in the Columbia River Gorge at Maryhill Museum, WA

• June 2016: Little Gems – Scott Milo Gallery, Anacortes, WA

  • Awarded Honorable Mention for “Tide Pools”

• December 2015: Portrait Society of America, Member’s Only Competition

  • Awarded 2nd Honorable Mention in the Still Life Category for “Peonies”

• December 2015: 6x6” Squared – Higbee Gallery

  • Awarded Gallery Award

• November 2015: PAWA From Meadows to Mountains Exhibition, American Art Company, Tacoma, WA

  • Awarded Honorable Mention for “Alderbrook”

  • Awarded People’s Choice Award for “Reflections”

• September 2015: Paint the Peninsula Plein Air Juried Competition

  • Awarded Olympic National Park Interpretation Ranger’s Award for “Remains of the Glines Canyon Dam”

• July 2015: Art Port Townsend

• December 2014: PAWA Nature’s Gift of Water Exhibition, American Art Company, Tacoma, WA

  • Awarded 3rd Place for “Alpenglow”

• December 2014: 6x6” Squared – Higbee Gallery

• October 2014: Portrait Society of America, Member’s Only Competition

  • Awarded 4th Merit in Still Life Category for “Penny’s Roses”

• July 2014: Northwest Landscapes Grand Art Exhibition

  • Awarded Honorable Mention for “Shadow Patterns”

• December 2013: 6x6" Squared - Higbee Gallery

• October - December 2013: PAWA Paints the State Parks Exhibition at American Art Company, Tacoma

• October 2013: Les Invites d’Yvonne Jean-Haffen, Artistes en residence a la Vignette

• September 2013: Dinan, France Artist’s Residency

• August 2013: Peninsula Art League 2013 Open Juried Art Exhibition

• July 2013: Driggs Digs Plein Air Competition

• June 2013: Oil Painters of America 2013 Summer Salon Show

• May 2013: Seaside Gallery Show, La Conner, WA

• December 2012: 6x6” Squared – Higbee Gallery

  • Awarded Gallery Award

• April 2011: Bellevue Art and Frame – Painting a Day

• September 2010: Bellevue Art and Frame – Painting a Day

• May 1975: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts

  • Winner of the Creative Arts Scholastic Show

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PUBLICATIONS:

 

• 2017 Washington “En Plein Air” Volume VIII

• 2016 Washington “En Plein Air” Volume VII

• 2015 Washington “En Plein Air” Volume VI

• 2015 Southwest Art Magazine: Artist’s to Watch – Editor’s Choice For Up-And-Coming Talent

• 2014 Washington “En Plein Air” Volume V

• 2013 Washington "En Plein Air" Volume IV

• 2012 Washington “En Plein Air” Volume III

• 2011 Washington “En Plein Air” Volume II