Jean Makela

moved to Green Valley, Arizona from New Mexico where she was a Signature Member of the New mexico Watercolor Society and showed her work in galleries in Taos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque.  Jean started teaching small groups in Albuquerque and later gave workshops and classes for the Santa Fe Community College, the New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Cochiti Lake Recreation Center and various arts and crafts stores in the area.  She volunteered for several years as a teacher of art for the Cochiti Elementary School.  In Green Valley, she has been an instructor for Green Valley Recreation and the Santa Rita Art League.


Jean grew up in Maine, still has family there, and often returns to be inspired by the beautiful New England scenery.  Marrying young, she had the opportunity to travel to many special places with her husband who made the US Air Force his career.  She studied art at the University of Vermont and the University of Hawaii.  She and her family spent five years in Europe where she absorbed the famous old masters at many important museums and galleries and took lessons from both Norwegian and American instructors.  She has attended many art workshops over the years and has been influenced by Millard Sheets, Robert Woods, Virginia Cobb and Katherine Chang Liu.  At present she is painting in various water media mixed with collage and experimenting with 3-D works on wood.


Jean is a member of the Tubac Center of the Arts, the Santa Rita Art League, The Ya Ya’s and the Copper State Artists exhibiting at Rogoway Gallery in Tubac.