JAN THOMPSON

With a history of tapestry weaving, Jan Thompson, in 1994, turned her considerable design skills to the art of silk screening. Using many of the same images that she had previously woven, Thompson creates silkscreen images that capture the shapes and textures of the Southwest's canyons and mesas.

The artist and her Southwest archaeologist husband often take their grandchildren with them to camp in area canyons, hiking for miles to view the latest rock art they've heard about. The pictograph and petroglyph motifs then become the central design elements in Thompson's serigraphs.

Whether the figures are of a crow, a lizard, human figures, a big cat or bighorn their ancient lineage shines through; Thompson titles most of her pieces for the general area each image was found on rock.

A favorite subject for Thompson is also designs from the Mimbres culture (roughly A.D. 1000-1130), a subset of the Southwest's larger Mogollon culture. Because so many of their sites have been pillaged and, often, the only record of their images is in books, Thompson enjoys bringing these motifs to a wide audience so everyone can appreciate the sensibilities of these particular ancient people.

Each of Thompson's serigraphs is hand-pulled and printed on 100% acid-free bark paper or rice paper. Each is matted and framed. Very limited edition serigraphs (generally only 12-30) of each print are produced. Each is signed and numbered.