I have been an observer, a listener, and a planner all my life. These skills, and a desire to use my hands to capture what I see, have led me to drawing and printmaking-with a focus on monotypes, woodcuts and lithographs. After a 40-year career helping other artists make their work, I am now immersed in the making process myself. My work reflects and interprets the environment surrounding me—which extends from the landscape to family history. It is very much about abstracting or extracting, layering and patterning. It is about image and ink, watercolor, prisma color and gouache, and the traits of fine paper. My years of working at the North Carolina Arts Council and Penland School of Crafts introduced me to thousands of artists and their approaches to the creative process—a joy that is now mine.

Recently retired after 45 years in nonprofit arts management, Jean has returned to her own art-making practice. Her focus has been on printmaking (monoprints, woodcuts and lithography) and drawing. She was director of Penland School of Craft for 20 years and with the NC Arts Council for 16 years prior to Penland. She studied art at the CA College of the Arts, UNC Chapel Hill, Penland School of Craft and has a master’s in liberal studies from NC State University.

My website: www.jeanmclaughlin.studio