Paintings By Jean Caroline Harlow

Jean Caroline Harlow was born in Chicago, Illinois, the second youngest of 5 children. Her artistry began when her father, a printmaker, brought home scraps of paper from the shop, gave them to Jean, and told her to draw. Jean and her father loved to visit the Chicago Art Institute, where they would invariably wind up in their favorite section – the gallery of American Art.

After high school, Jean married Dr. Rueben J. Balzer and accompanied him across the Atlantic Ocean toward Rueben’s life calling - to be a missionary doctor. After a year of preparation in Liverpool, England and then in Omderman, Egypt studying Arabic, the young couple moved to Maiac, Sudan, and six years later to Dessie, Ethiopia. In Dessie, Jean would occasionally conduct drawing classes for the Ethiopian children, most of who had never been to school or used pens and paper. But the majority of Jean’s time and energy during this period was spent raising her children under challenging circumstances. “I played around with it [art] a little, but married young and ultimately lived in eight states and four East African countries, and had five children, so that art interest was put on the back burner,” Jean explains.

Back in the U.S., after her five children were mostly grown, and her marriage had ended, Jean had the chance to go to college. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 1975 with a Bachelors Degree in Art History, and in 1977 earned her Masters Degree in Museum Studies, from Lone Mountain College in San Francisco. The following year Jean moved to Egypt by herself, to teach art and music to children at the Schultz American School in Alexandria. The homesickness made that one of the most difficult years of her life.

In the late 70’s, a friend invited Jean to take a painting class with Lundy Siegirst, whose pupils were like family to him. He would not instruct so much as walk amongst his students while they painted, giving pointers and advice in an encouraging manner. Many of Jean’s first paintings in her collection were completed under her studies with Lundy.

As her other inspirations and most admired predecessors, Jean lists: Edward Munch, Rosa Bonheur, Rembrandt (especially his biblical scenes), Greek Art, and the Dutch painters, as well as many American artists. Jean has never been interested in nude models or still-lifes, and prefers to work with acrylics. She occasionally paints from photographs, but for the most part, the places she creates on canvas are from her imagination. Jean paints the world as she would like to see it – clean, serene and uncluttered. “Forget the cars and the people,” she says, “no traffic jams, no smog… but a quiet, simple, and peaceful world.”