Jan Prentice’s avian artwork invites viewers to reconnect with nature. Her personal connection with birds began about ten years ago when she began to notice their presence on early morning walks.  How was it possible that they’d always been there but she had never noticed?  Her initial curiosity resulted in a full-time preoccupation.  When she is not painting birds, she is outside looking for them, observing them or learning more about them.

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Jan earned a bachelor’s degree in economics followed by an MBA in Finance.  During her early career she worked at Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates in Philadelphia, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, DC and AT&T in New Haven.  Her art education began in earnest in 1990 and she studied at Paier College of Art, the Lyme Academy of  Fine Art and the New York Botanical Garden. She eventually co-founded the Natural Science Illustration Program at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, CT in 2010 where she continues to teach nature-themed art.

Jan’s paintings are held in private and public collections throughout the United States. Her work has been shown in the internationally recognized “Birds in Art” exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum; Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT; New York State Museum; University of Colorado, Museum of Natural History;  PaintAmerica Top 100, Mulvane Museum of Art, Topeka, KS; the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT as well as many other national and regional venues.  She is an elected artist member at the New Haven Paint and Clay Club,  Madison Art Society, and associate member of the Lyme Art Association.

Jan and her husband reside near Long Island Sound in Branford, CT, the source of much of her inspiration.