Jean is the author of "Expressive Portraits: Creative Methods for Painting People". She has been painting for over twenty years, balancing her strong teaching abilities, and writing with her continuing aspiration to convey her ideas in visual form.
Jean's traditional practice includes referential imagery of people, still life, landscape and abstraction. The layering of a variety of media offers Jean an assortment of possibilities within her work; quality of edge, line and texture all play a role within her imagery. Although Pederson is well known for her mastery of watercolours, mixed media has become an important venue for her creative expression.
The portraits in her paintings are based on people who she has met or impacted her. These subjects in her paintings often reflect different walks of life as well as diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. We are hard pressed to find a period in time when the human figure wasn't represented. Finding a way to express the human figure in a language that reflects the twenty-first century is perhaps the greatest challenge in figurative work today.
Jean has work placed in the Royal Collection in Winsor England, and has been honored with numerous National and International awards over the years. In 2005 Jean was the first recipient of the Federation of Canadian Artists Early Achievement Award, granted for her many honors, awards, international writing to promote art education, and consistent, exceptional painting.
Jean Pederson has exhibited her work Internationally in China, London England, Stockholm Sweden, New York -United Nations, San Francisco, Mexico and across Canada.
She has completed a body of work for Public Exhibitions dealing with the changes that have occurred within the social fabric of Rural Canada. This body of work is explored outside Jean's traditional practices, encompassing fragments from the past and present. Parts of the family farm, old receipts, fragments of the homestead (pieces of linoleum, doors, moldings, shingles), and photographs were used in an attempt to tell the story of the ever-changing landscape and social fabric of the prairies.
This work is as eclectic as the people who made up the rural society. Jean has included paintings, collage (using the old documents to symbolize all that is left of the family farm), Polaroid transfers of old and new photographs, and installations using the pieces of the old house to tell this story. The fragment represents all that is left from 100 years of farming in my family.
Farm Fragments is currently traveling to a variety of Public Galleries.
The Royal Collection, London, England
Laramie Community College, Cheyenne, Wyoming
MOCA (Triangle Gallery), Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Bow Valley Artist Garden, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Covenant Real Estate, Alberta
Fairchild Resources, Alberta
Kinderhook Resources, Alberta
The Mustard Seed, Alberta
A.G.R.A. Collection, Alberta
Phillips Bros., Alberta
Diploma Collection, C.S.P.W.C., Alberta
Doris McCarthy, Alberta
Agrium Collection, Alberta
Sponsored by Holbein
American Watercolor Society (AWS Signature Member)
Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour (C.S.P.W.C.)
Alberta Society of Artists (A.S.A. Signature Member)
Federation of Canadian Artists (SFCA Senior Signature Member)
California Watercolor Association (MCWA Master Signature Member)
London England, travel study for works in the Royal Collection, National Portrait Gallery, and National Gallery, 2000
New York, travel study for works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Guggenheim Museum, The Museum of Modern art., 2003, 05, 06
1985, B.Ed. from the University of Calgary (Major in Fine Arts)
1983, B.P.E from the University of Calgary
2013 - Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal for contribution to the arts
2011 - Jurors Award - C.W.A. - Gallery Concord – San Francisco
2010 - Walter J. Philips Award - CIPA - Mount Royal University
2010 - Finalist – The Artist's Magazine – Experimental– U.S.A.
2009 - The Charles Comfort Medal - C.S.P.W.C. - Leighton Centre, Alberta
2009 - Swinton Award - C.S.P.W.C.
2008 - The Charles Comfort Medal - C.S.P.W.C. - Toronto, Ontario
2008 - Mario Cooper and Dale Meyers Medal - A.W.S. 141st International Exhibition, N.Y.
2007 - Certificate of Honour with Medal - Jiangsu Water Colour Research Institute - China
2007 - Jarvis Award - C.S.P.W.C. - Toronto, ON
2007 - Presidents Award - C.S.P.W.C. - Toronto, ON
2007 - M. Graham Award - N.W.W.S. International Exhibition - Seattle, WA
2006 - Daler Rowney Award - C.S.P.W.C. - Toronto, ON
2006 - Merit Award - T.W.S.A. International Exhibition - Elmhurst, IL
2006 - Honorable Mention - N.W.W.S. International Exhibition - Seattle, WA
2005 - Grand Prize - Painting on the Edge International Exhibition -Vancouver, BC
2005 - Early Achievement Award - Presented for the first time by the F.C.A - Vancouver
2005 - Finalist - The Artist's Magazine - Portraits - U.S.A.
2004 - Best Water Media of Show - CIPA Nation Exhibition - Masters Gallery - Calgary, AB
2004 - Finalist - The Artist's Magazine - Portraits - U.S.A.
2003 - Opus Award - Paintings on the Edge International Exhibition - Vancouver, BC
2003 - Finalist - Artist's Magazine - Portraits - U.S.A.
2003 - Silver Medal, Canadian Institute of Portrait Artists - Canada
2002 - Gold Medal, New York Adirondacks International Exhibition - U.S.A.
2002 - Honorable Mention - Artist's Magazine Competition - U.S.A.
2001 - A.W.S. - Silver Medal of Honor - U.S.A.
2001 - C.W.A. - Silver Medal - U.S.A.
2001 - Finalist - Artists Magazine - Portraits - U.S.A.
2000 - C.S.P.W.C. - S.J. Sloan Award - A Brush with History - Toronto, ON
2000 - C.S.P.W.C. - H. K. Holbein Award - Open Watercolour Exhibition - Toronto, ON
2000 - Watercolour West - National Watercolour Society Award U.S.A.
1999 - Honorable Mention - Artists' Magazine - Portraits - U.S.A.
1999 - The Evans Award - Vancouver, B.C.
1999 - 1st Place - Signature Show, Western Canadian Artists F.C.A. - Calgary, AB
1998 - 4th Place - Windsor and Newton International Watercolour Competition - U.S.A.
2011 Centre 64 Public Gallery, Kimberley, B.C.
2011 Estevan Art Gallery and Museum, Estevan, Saskatchewan
2010 Red Deer District Museum, Red Deer, Alberta
2010 The Avens Gallery, Canmore, Alberta
2009 Pynlogs Public Gallery, Invermere, B.C.
2007 Birchwood Gallery, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
2005 Leighton Centre, Calgary, Alberta
2002 Birchwood Gallery, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
1998 Unisourse Gallery, Calgary, Alberta
2013, 12, 11, 10, 09, 08, 07, 06, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00 - CSPWC Open Water Exhibition, Toronto, Ontario
2012 - Group Exhibition, F.C.A. Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
2012 - Pennsylvania Watercolor Society State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
2012 - China International Invitational Water Media Exhibition, Jiangsu Water Color Institute
2011 - C.W.A. National Exhibition, Gallery Concord, Concord, California
2010 - C.I.P.A. International Portrait Exhibition, Mount Royal University, Calgary, Alberta
2010 - China International Invitational Water Media Exhibition, Jiangsu Water Color Institute
2010 - T.W.S.A. International Exhibition, Kenosha Public Museum, Wyoming
2009 - Drawing Project 2009, Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts, Valdosta, Georgia
2008 - Triangle Gallery Atrist's Circle Exhibition, Calgary, Alberta
2008, 07, 06, 05, 01 - A.W.S. 134th International Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, N.Y., N.Y.
2009 - CIPA International Portrait Exhibition, Calgary, Alberta
2008, 07 - China International Invitational Water Media Exhibition, Jiangsu Water Color Institute
2007, 05, 03, 02, 01, 00 - C.W.S. National Exhibition, Academy of Art University Gallery, San Francisco
2007, 06, 03 - N.W.W.S. Exhibition, Artists Gallery, Seattle, WA
2006 - CIPA National Open Exhibition, Red Deer Museum, Red Deer
2006 - T.W.S.A. 30th International Exhibition, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL
2005, 04, 03 - Painting on the Edge, Federation Gallery, Vancouver
2004 - CIPA National Exhibition, Calgary, Alberta
2004 - C.S.P.W.C. 80th Anniversary Traveling Exhibition
2002 - 2003 International Watercolour Exhibition, National Watercolour Museum, Mexico City, Mexico
2002 - Search for the Human Essence, Triangle Gallery, Calgary, Alberta
2001 - Royal Collection Exhibition, traveling exhibition: Canada House, London, England: O'Connor Gallery, Toronto, Ontario: Arts & Letters Club, Toronto, Ontario
2000 - A Brush With History: The first 75 Years, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario
2000 - Your World In The Year 2000, International Exhibition, Winsor and Newton, traveling exhibition: New York (United Nations): London, England: Stockholm, Sweden
1999 - 2000 Mexico/ Canadian Watercolour Exhibition, Mexico
1996 - 2005 The Alicat Gallery, Bragg Creek, Alberta
1996 - 2000 The Artnest Gallery, Calgary, Alberta
2013 - Author of "Mixed Media Painting Workshops" North Light Publications
2007 - Author of "Expressive Portraits: Creative Methods for Painting People" North Light Publications
2010 - Author of "Artists Pocket Guide to Better Painting" North Light Publications
2010 - North Light Publications "Sketchbook Confidentials"
2013, 11, 10, 08, 06, 05, 04, 03, 02, 01 - Watercolor Artist/Magic
2010 - Author of "Artists Pocket Guide to Better Painting"
2010 - Contributing Artist for North Light Publication "Sketchbook Confidentials"
2010 - CCP Video of Jean's work
2009 - American Artists Watercolor Summer Issue, Feature Article
2008-Jun-16 - Wyoming Tribute Eagle, Article by Karen Cotton
2009 - Feature Water Media Artist for Daniel Smith International Catalogue
2013, 12, 11, 10, 09, 08, 07, 06, 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 1999 - Artist's Magazine
2013, 12, 11, 10, 09, 08, 07, 06, 05, 04, 03, 02 - Canada's Who's Who
2004, 03, 01, 00 - International Artist
2007, 06, 04 - Splash 14, 10, 9, 8 - F & W Publications
2005 - Magazin' Art - October
2000 - The First Seventy Years - Historical Book A.S.A.
2000 - Our World in the Year 2000 - Windsor and Newton
Contributing Editor for "The Artist's Magazine"
Chairperson for National C.S.P.W.C. Water Media Symposium - University of Calgary
Red Deer College - Series 2014, 13, 12, 11, 10, 09, 08, 07, 06, 05, 04
Alberta Collage of Art and Design - Extension, 2000-2014
C.B.E. - Art Education, 1985-1999
Variety of workshops taught to groups across Canada/U.S.A.