ARTIST STATEMENT
My newest paintings evoke a storybook feel- conjured from my memories as a young girl as well as the dreams of flying I have had all my life. In these dreams, I can fly if I close my eyes and concentrate. I can teach others to fly, if we hold hands and think hard about flying it can happen. We fly over fantastical landscapes, where color and scale are magical. I remain a young girl in these lucid dreams. As I grow older, my memories of childhood became clearer, even more colorful, and provide insight and encouragement to me. I wake up feeling I indeed have been on a lovely, breathtaking journey.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Brandt is an artist working in mixed-media, textiles, printmaking, and painting. She holds a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, both from Illinois State University in Normal, IL. Brandt is the owner of Jan Brandt Gallery LLC in Normal, IL.
Brandt’s work has been shown across the United States, including San Francisco, New York, and Boston as well as extensively throughout the Midwest. The artist will be honored during Illinois State University’s Homecoming 2023 as a distinguished Fine Arts Alumni.
Selected Exhibitions:
Toybox, Group Exhibition, The Illinois State Museum Galleries of Lockport and Springfield and North Central College, Naperville, IL
Sexism-A Touchy Subject-Arc San Francisco Gallery Juried Group Exhibition for Silicon
Valley Women’s Caucus for Art
Degrees of Abstraction, Argonne Laboratories, Lemont, IL
Evolving Illusions, Solo Exhibition, Illinois Central College Performing Arts Center, Peoria, IL
Boston Biennial IV, Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston, First Prize Winner in Installation Category
Hothouse, Solo Exhibition, Contemporary Art Center, Peoria, IL
Botanica Imaginaria, Water Street Studios, Batavia, IL
The Consilience of Art and Science, The Pence Gallery, UC-Davis
Magic Garden, Open Space Gallery, Ottawa, IL
Flourish, Anne Lloyd Gallery, Decatur, IL
Selected print and online publications:
Create! Magazine, Creative Boom, Creative Quarterly, The Dialogist, Studio Visit, Poets and Artists “The New Feminists” and “Freak Out”, The Hindu, World Earth Day, “What Artists Are Creating”, NASA Artemis Partners to the Moon, “Lunar Codex”
© Jan Brandt