Martha Jean Shadrach
Nov 7, 1926 -
Jan 17, 2021
Jean gracefully left this earth for heaven and her next grand adventure surrounded by her family on a peaceful Sunday evening.
"The challenge is before you. Accept this challenge. Never has a painter been so free. Never has the opportunity for individual expression been so great. When you have learned how to communicate your emotion in paint, so that others feel as you have felt … you have become an artist." - The Painter's Challenge by Harold Von Schmidt
Jean was an artist through and through who looked at challenges as opportunities to learn and have a spectacular adventure in the process. From tent camping in the wilds of the Alaska tundra to exploring the untamed safari grasslands of Africa - she and her ever-present sketchbooks went where her heart took her and perhaps any where she was told she "shouldn't go." Jean gloried in capturing the world she experienced with simple but powerful color pallets and painted with the desire that viewers always see something new and different. She filled many a canvas with award-winning beauty, but it is the art she painted on the hearts of those she met and loved that will always set her apart. If ever you met Jean, you know the mark we mean.
Jean not only brought beauty into this word with her art, but with her very presence. She loved to learn and never missed an opportunity to ask questions, no matter the subject. She had this compelling way of making people feel significant and special and you just wanted to share with her.
If you asked her, Jean would tell you that her many, many artistic accolades were appreciated, but they paled in comparison to the pride and joy she found in her family, close friends and her Garage Aire Group of 20 years. A loving and indomitable matriarch, she drew people into her circle and carried them along on her journey. Not very good at taking "no" for an answer, Jean would always find a way through, over or around with quiet but firm determination. She left this world as she lived, with grace, class and dignity.
Jean accomplished many amazing things in life as an artist: having her art recognized at international art exhibits in New York, starting Artique Ltd. in Anchorage, being published in the Encyclopedia of Sumi-E, Painting Flowers by Elizabeth Leonard, Alaska People, Midwest Art, American Artist, Alaska Journal, and Contemporary American Artists by Les Krantz. Jean's art appeared in solo shows at the Anchorage Fine Arts Museum and the Frye Museum, and she is a past winner of the Governor's Award for Excellence in Visual Art. Her art is included in collections at the Frye Museum in Seattle, the Northwest Annual Watercolor Exhibit, the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, ARCO, SHIO, Exxon, National Bank of Alaska, Alyeska Pipeline Service, British Petroleum and many private collections.
Jean is survived by her son, John and his wife Brenda Currier; her daughter, Sue and her husband Brian Green; her grandchildren and their spouses, Adrienne and Bill Wilkerson, Daniel and Kyong Green, Katie Jean Shadrach, Lina Shadrach, and Sara and Dustin Murr; her five great-grandchildren, Aidan Wilkerson, Zeke Murr, Olivia Green, Abby Murr and Amelia Joy Green; her sister, Shirley Johnson; many cousins, nieces and nephews; and the treasured members of her Garage Aire Group.
"I find painting a life-long challenge and a daily joy." - Jean Shadrach
In memorial to Jean, please paint a picture, visit somewhere you haven't been or make a donation to the Botanical Gardens in her name. A celebration of life for Jean will be held in Anchorage, Alaska, when safe to do so. To receive a future notice of Jean's memorial, please email jeanshadrach.memorial@gmail.com.
