Artist Profile

Jan Brown

Jan Brown is a re-emerging studio artist based in the Adelaide Hills. Having been a ceramicist and painter for over a decade prior to working in the health field as a Social Worker until 2017, Brown updated her art skills and graduated from Adelaide Central School of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2019. Brown was selected as a finalist in the Royal South Australian Society of the Arts Portrait Exhibition in 2017 and the Prospect Portrait Prize in 2019. Her still life painting was awarded Best in Show, winning the Victor Harbor Art Show in 2020.

The art works presented in this exhibition may at first glance, appear to be related to her love of ceramics. More than that, these images attempt to explore identity and the beauty construct. Imperfections brought about by the ‘wear and tear’ of staying alive often challenge ones’ identity. Similarly, ceramic forms and glazes respond to the fire by cracking, crazing and adjusting to fit the form when cooling. Brown attempts to capture this process by creating a metaphor for loss, acceptance, transformation and recovery in relationship to the body.

In so doing, Brown challenges the beauty construct created by the media and investigates beauty in terms of integrity. Preferring to describe bodily marks left by operations, illness and ageing as battle scars and evidence of a life well lived.

“Exhibiting at the Royal Adelaide Hospital is a personal and professional milestone for me. I hope my artwork encourages patients and viewers who may be undergoing transformative treatments come to terms with radical changes. Having “graduated” from breast cancer treatment between 2005 and 2018, I want to thank the medical staff at RAH who helped in my recovery.

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Please contact the artist: jbrownet@gmail.com