Jan Brandt is an artist working in mixed-media, textiles, printmaking, and painting. She holds a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, both from Illinois State University in Normal, IL. She is the owner of Jan Brandt Gallery in Normal, IL, and has curated Visiting Artist Exhibitions since 2012. Brandt’s work has been shown in San Francisco and Davis, CA, Chicago and surrounding areas, New York City, Oberlin, OH, Indianapolis and Evansville, IN, Boston, MA, Champaign- Urbana, Decatur, Ottawa, and Peoria, IL as well as in her local community of Bloomington-Normal, IL. Her work has been exhibited digitally in three Venice Biennials and also the Havana, Cuba Biennial through the Biennial Project of Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston, MA.
Brandt’s work has been selected for many print and online publications, including Create Magazine, Studio Visit, and Creative Quarterly. She was the featured on the “I Like Your Work” podcast, YouTube, Instagram and website. Her installation work was shown in The Illinois State Museum Galleries of Lockport and Springfield. In 2018, Brandt’s Happy Contagion was exhibited at The Boston Biennial V at Atlantic Works Gallery as The First Prize Winner in the Installation Category. Selected solo shows include Hothouse at The Contemporary Art Center of Peoria in summer of 2021, Botanica Imaginaria January -February 2023 at Water Street Studios in Batavia, IL, and Magic Garden at Ottawa, IL’s Open Space Gallery in Fall of 2023. December 2023 through February 2024, Brandt’s work was curated into a two-person exhibition in the prestigious Sanctuary Gallery of the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, IL on the “Magnificent Mile”.
The artist has remained a vital part of her alma mater, and was selected as a Distinguished Alumni Recipient of The Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts during Homecoming 2023, and will lead a Fiber Art workshop at University Galleries, Normal, IL, February 2024. In May 2024, Brandt will be included in a three-person exhibition, Macrocosm at The Peoria Art Guild.