Jean Bradbury

Jean Bradbury was born in Scotland in 1963 and spent her childhood in rural eastern Canada. She earned her BFA from Queen’s University in Ontario and studied illustration at Seattle Central Community College.

Jean’s large-scale paintings are found in collections in the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, and Jordan. She has received commissions from Starbucks for artworks in Kuwait and China and has completed installations for the Washington State Arts Commission. She has received grants from Artist Trust, The Awesome Foundation, 4Culture, Dreaming Zebra, Blade of Grass, Shunpike, and the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture.

She has been recognized by UNESCO for her work teaching art and natural dyeing to rural women in the Middle East in a project she funded and established in 1999. In 2013, she began her organization “Studio Syria” to bring art education to Syrians living as refugees in Jordan.

Jean received a 2011 GAP which allowed her to spend time in the field that would otherwise have to be spent painting commissioned work.

Jean received 2018 GAP Award funding for her project On-My-Head. In-My-Heart, an ongoing exploration of clothing as language. She paints people wearing garments of importance to them and incorporates interviews with the portrait subjects into the installation. The interviews describe how the item they wear on their heads expresses what they hold in their hearts.