Jan Cook Mack
Jan Cook Mack grew up in the United States and Taiwan, and received her Fine Arts degree from Bennington College in Vermont. She established herself as a fine artist in New York City before moving to eastern Washington State in 1986.
Mack’s paintings arise out of an emotional response to the pursuit of an intimate relationship with the natural world. She began painting dairy cows while living in Vermont in 1970. “The geometry of their weight and placement offered an armature of formal structure which reinforced my realism” she explains. “My love of cows gave me a connection to the activities of farming. Tractors, bales, windrows became subjects. From a distance, farming tools and process seemed like large-scale drawing on the land.”
Her move from Vermont to Washington expanded her pastoral views to include explosive wildscape vistas. “Painting onsite allows the energy of a place to fully enter the artwork and give a voice to invisible forces,” she says. “I seek high elevation painting sites to depict a bird’s-eye view of the dynamic geology spread out below.” Her studies in Taiwan and Chinese hand-scroll painting have also influenced her panoramic vision of the West.
Mack is working on a series entitled “100 Views of the Columbia and Wenatchee Rivers,” after Hokusai’s series “100 Views of MT Fuji.” She also has painted official portraits of Vermont’s Governor Madeleine Kunin, Senator Arthur Gibb, and two federal judges. Her work is collected by Bankers Trust, Exxon, IBM and is displayed in numerous corporate headquarters.
Artist’s studio and gallery open to visitors. Oil paintings and prints specializing in valley landscapes, orchards, fruit (apples, cherries, peaches) wilderness scenes (lakes and waterfalls). Open Year Around, sat & sunday, weekdays by appointment (509) 662-8383.
Jan welcomes visitors to tour her Studio Gallery at:
529 Easy Street
Wenatchee, WA 98801
Here are some examples of her work:
