About the Artist
An artist who writes? Or a writer who paints?
Jan's passions for writing, painting, cooking, and hiking have merged into a dream career. One that has included glorious stretches of time in all of these separate loves. The outcome? An award-winning food writer and consultant with over 30 years of experience in the food and newspaper industries; and an award-winning artist, whose food-related and wilderness-inspired landscapes have found their way into collections throughout the country.
She wrote and illustrated a weekly food column, Food For Thought, for the Corvallis Gazette-Times from 1983 to 2020, and a syndicated column, Fresh Approach, for that same period, which was distributed throughout the Pacific Northwest, including the Bend Bulletin, the Eugene Register-Guard, the Medford Mail Tribune, and the Everett Herald. Preserving, a seasonal column on preserving food, had a 20-year run in The Oregonian FOODday, beginning in 1987. Jan is the author-illustrator of five cookbooks, including The Onion Book, published by Doubleday. Her latest is Oregon Hazelnut Country - the Food, the Drink, the Spirit.
Jan has made numerous radio and television appearances in major markets around the country and for many years, was a regular guest chef on Portland's popular morning TV talk show, AMNorthwest (KATU; an ABC affiliate). She has judged cooking competitions at the state level and above, including the National Beef Cook-Off Finals, and served as Guest Chef aboard the Royal Viking Cruise Line vessel Royal Viking Sun. Jan hosted the cooking segments on the PBS series, Northwest Gardening, which was carried by public television stations throughout the U.S. in 1999 and 2000. She was a creative consultant and writer for the PBS television series Smart Gardening.
Art has always played an integral role in Jan's professional life. Her line drawings and food-related watercolors accompany much of what she has written, both in her weekly newspaper columns and in her books. Her landscapes take form on the many hikes and backpacking trips she and her husband enjoy whenever they can plot such expeditions - particularly in Central and Eastern Oregon. Once back in her studio, sketches and the finished paintings emerge from photos taken on their treks.
Jan provided the art for Transitions, a book of breast cancer survivor stories, published in April of 2003 by the Benton County Breast & Cervical Cancer Coalition. She is the recipient of the 2006 and 2007 People's Choice Award at the Corvallis Fall Festival's Fine Artist Showcase for her watercolors Seduction, and High Summer (image below), respectively. Both are scenes based on some of Jan's favorite subject matter, the Oregon cascades. She was also voted "Best Artist," in the 2011 Top of the Valley Readers Choice Awards, sponsored by the Mid-Valley newspapers.
Jan grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, obtained a B.S. degree from California State Polytechnic University, and learned the art of recipe development and food styling at Western Foods and Associates, a professional test kitchen in San Francisco. She earned a M.S. degree in home economics (specializing in food science and nutrition) from Oregon State University and now writes and paints from her home in Corvallis, Oregon. She and her husband Steve own and operate Stoneyburn Gallery and Fine Framing.
