WISC Fellow Jacqueline Chanda
Born in Detroit Michigan, Jacqueline’s artistic talent was discovered at an early age. Throughout high school she received scholarships to attend the Art Center Los Angeles for drawing. From there, a scholarship, took her to UCLA where she obtained her undergraduate degree in painting and drawing. During her time at UCLA she had the privilege of studying with Richard Diebenkorn who has been a great influence on her approach to painting. Graduate school led Jacqueline to Paris, France, where she studied visual arts, art education and plastic arts, theory and aesthetics at the National School of Art and then at the Sorbonne University where she received her Masters and Ph.D. While in graduate school at the Sorbonne, she painted in the Académie de Port-Royal, an ‘atelier’ run by the late Claude Schurr. During this period she exhibited, at the Grand Palais, at the Galerie Louis Soulanges, and in other group exhibitions selling her artwork a long the way. Upon graduation her attention turned to building her academic career in the field of art education through teaching, research, writing and publishing.
In spite of a successful academic career in art education, Jacqueline’s dream had always been to be a full time artist, so she left academe and followed her heart. She is now a full- time artist living in Tucson, AZ. Exploring her creative side and pursuing her own art making is now her passion. Since focusing full time on her own art production, she has been very active, making, exhibiting and selling her artwork. She was the recipient of a Professional Development Grant, from the Arizona Commission on the Arts that supported her participation in an artist residency program in Vallauris, France. She was also one of twelve artists selected for the Hypatia-in-the-Woods artist residency in 2020. She has participated in several exhibitions at the local, national and international levels. These include invitational, juried group shows, competitions, and solo exhibitions. Some of the more notable juried group exhibitions include the Grand Palais in Paris, France; the Mildred M. Cox Gallery in Fulton, MO; the Dedo Maraville Fine Arts Gallery, Valdosta, GA; Rice Gallery of Fine Art in Overland Park, KS, Curtis Center for the Arts, Greenwood village, CO; Toscana Gallery, Oro Valley, AZ; and the Rembrandt Yard Gallery in Boulder, CO. Her most recent solo shows have taken place at the 2010 Gallery in Prairie Village, KS; Caffe Luce, Tucson, AZ; the Galleria Gallery at the YWCA, Tucson, AZ; and the Tucson International Airport. She has received four awards, an honorable mention for work exhibited at the Mildred M. Cox Gallery, an honorable mention for work at the Toscana Gallery, a Crystal Merit Award from the Gallery Ring international online competition and a second place award at the Sonoran Plein Air painters’ exhibition at Old Tucson. Her work has appeared in the Cliente Magazine; Sonoran Arts Network, art review; Lovin’ Life After 50 magazine, the Tubac Gallery guide, PBS Television “Spot on the Arts,” and the Arizona Daily Star Newspaper.
Jacqueline’s WISC Fellowship will explore and experiment with the concept “Looking Back” and create the first part of a series of narrative paintings based on individual and/or historical situations where women are looking back but moving forward into some space or place that represents their hopes and aspirations. The women, with differing expressions on their faces, will be looking at the viewer, who then has the opportunity to determine for themselves how the past may have effected the lives of the women portrayed and women in general for the woman depicted will be archetypes.
