Jan Anders Nelson

Bio

"In 1998 I accepted a job in program management at Microsoft where I continue to work today.  Along that path I have co-authored 13 patents, 10 of which have been granted so far and delivered features that are in use by over a billion people, built tools for developers to assist them in creating multilingual apps, and served as the Microsoft Internationalization expert representative to the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C).

Around 2011, I reconnected with artist Don Eddy on Facebook after decades of sporadic contact by letter and phone.  That connection reignited the artist in me who had been pushed aside so long ago, sparking a new series of conversations between us and a renewed passion to make art.  And then another major disruption happened in July of that year when I tangled with a John Deere track loader on the side of an Olympic mountain and experienced a near-fatal crush injury to my right foot.  Following a self extraction and ultimate rescue chopper flight to Harborview Medical Center, and 8 surgeries to rebuild the mess into what was hoped to be a durable appendage, I started on the long path to recovery.  This effort and the time invested in it gifted me with another chance to reflect on my priorities, resulting in a purer, more fundamental understanding that I needed to make art.  Period.

In March of 2014 my wife, Connie, and I travelled to New York City where we met with Don Eddy and his wife and artist, Leigh Behnke, our first physical meeting since saying goodbye in 1977.  I felt that in many ways  we were picking up right where we left off so long ago.  Time in their loft, a dinner, and then attending the opening of his exhibit “Two Realms” at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery in Chelsea served to cement my need, or compulsion, to make art as part of the daily fabric of my being.  This has driven me to a deep introspection on what my work is about and where I want to take it, reconnecting with my early art and photography and my creative aspirations.

Today I have a wonderful studio space on our property in Gig Harbor, Washington where I am happily immersed, reunited with camera, canvas, pencils and paint, a reality that makes me very excited! I use my cameras  and photography skills to capture the world and also paint and create drawings in graphite and colored pencil.  I have returned to exhibiting my work and have seen it accepted into a number of national shows.  My mission is to create art, to simplify the number of activities in life in order to spend more time in the studio, and create the portfolio that is pent up inside me, eager to come out, and ready to share with others."

-Jan Anders Nelson

Artist CV