Visual Artist + Painter
About
The
Artist
Artist Bio
Jean Keller was born and raised on a barrier island at the southern-most tip of the state of New Jersey. She earned a BFA in communications in 1978 from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, and promptly began her career in advertising. An illustration class during her undergraduate studies solidified the fact that New England architecture, landscape, cityscape, and coastal scenery was where she wanted to live. So, she followed her dream, packed herself up, and moved to Boston where she began an award-winning professional career.
As her corporate career winds down, Jean has more time to devote to painting. She’s moved back to sea level and now lives and works in beautiful Bristol, RI where she makes time to study the art of making fine art — constantly raising the bar and reaching for the stars.
Applying her mantra: “if you’re going to do it, do it well” she regularly takes workshops and classes. Many collectors have given her work a new home and she is thrilled to be gaining national accolades with professional art organizations. Jean paints a wide range of subjects including animal/figurative, coastal settings, and landscapes.
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Artist Statement
I want my viewer to engage and connect with my work on an emotional level. I try to do this directly (through the subject’s eye contact or expression) in my figurative work, or through movement (with a signature flock of birds) in my land and seascapes. There’s never a hidden agenda in any of my work. I truly enjoy the art of honest, traditional realism with painterly undertones.
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Awards
2025 BEST IN SHOW (Int'l) Camelback Gallery
2025 Silver Award (Int'l) Camelback Gallery
2024 Semi-Finalist 96th Grand Nat'l Exhibition APPL
2024 Living+Breathing/Distinction (Int'l) Gallery 4%
2024 Faces and Features/Distinction (Int'l) Gallery 4%
2024 Portraiture/Bronze (Int'l) Camelback Gallery
2023 Animal Portraiture/Honor (Int'l) Artist Network
2023 Animal Portraiture/Bronze (Int'l) Camelback Gallery
2023 Juried Oils/Finalist (Int'l) Camelback Gallery
2022 Award of Excellence Nat'l Oil & Acrylics Painters Society
2022 Top 25 Oil on Canvas Nat'l Assoc. of Women Artists
2022 Suzanne Hassel Award Warren Art Festival, Warren RI
2021 Best of 2021 Finalist (Int'l) Camelback Gallery
2021 Realistic Landscape Bronze (Int'l) Camelback Gallery
2021 Animal Portraiture Bronze (Int'l) Camelback Gallery
2021 Summer Beaches Top 40 (Int'l) Art Preservation Initiative
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Selected Juried Group Exhibitions:
2025 Fall Showcase Oil Painters of America
2025 Associates Exhibition Nat'l Oil & Acrylics Painters Society
2025 Members Juried Exhibition Am. Artists Professional League
2025 Juried show: "Coastal Beauty" RI Watercolor Society
2024 96th Grand Nat'l Exhibition Am. Artists Professional League
2024 Juried Members Show Bristol Art Museum, Bristol RI
2024 Associates Exhibition Nat'l Oil & Acrylics Painters Society
2023 Associates Exhibition Nat'l Oil & Acrylics Painters Society
2023 Spring Showcase Spring Bull Gallery
2022 Fall Showcase Oil Painters of America
2022 Juried Members Bristol Art Museum
2022 Summer Showcase Oil Painters of America
2022 Spring Showcase Oil Painters of America
2021 Fall Showcase Oil Painters of America
2021 ArtNight (featured artist) Bristol/Warren, Bristol RI
2021 Summer Showcase Oil Painters of America
2021 Spring Showcase Oil Painters of America
2021 Art in Bloom Linden Place, Bristol, RI
2021 Spring Fever Spring Bull Gallery, Newport, RI
2021 Fakes and Forgeries Spring Bull Gallery, Newport, RI
2020 Fall Showcase Oil Painters of America
2020 Little Picture Show Spring Bull Gallery, Newport, RI
2020 The Great Outdoors Medford Art Center, Medford, NJ
2020 Annual Art by the Bay Duxbury Art Association, Duxbury MA
2020 ArtNight (featured artist) Bristol/Warren, Bristol RI
2019 Cold Snap Bristol Art Museum, Members Show, Bristol RI
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Professional Affiliations and Memberships
Signature Member National Society of Women Artists
Elected Artist Member American Artist Professional League
Associate Member Oil Painters of America, American Society of Marine Artists, Guild of Boston Artists and National Oil and Acrylic Painters' Society.
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Education
Additional studies/workshops: Classical methods w/Jennifer Gennari (Drawing America), Eric Johnson (Academy of Realism Art), Don Demers, Sarah Margaret Gibson. Informal atelier w/W.N. (Bill) McLane,
1974-1978 BFA, Communication Design, minor in Art History, Kutztown University, PA
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