Mapes, Jan Biography

Mapes, Jan Biography

Ever since she was a girl visiting her grandparents’ ranch in Arkansas, Jan loved horses and the outdoors. Through high-school and college those passions grew and her best friends were some of God’s four-footed creatures. Naturally, they became the subjects that filled her sketchbooks. However, until she visited Santa Fe on her honeymoon she didn’t consider art as anything more than a hobby.

For over thirty years Jan has been immersed in the rural cultural of Colorado’s ranching community. With encouragement from her horse-trainer husband and an inquisitive mind, Jan developed her ability to express, first in clay and later in paint, the things that touched her heart.

Today her work travels from her studio in southeastern Colorado all across the United States. While her contract for the design of the National Cutting Horse Association’s trophy takes her sculpture around the globe. But whether painting or sculpting Jan’s goal is the same: “to capture the spirit and beauty of this earthly experience, and to encourage others to see, feel, enjoy, and appreciate it.”

Education
  • Associate of Arts (1975) Lamar Community College
  • Graduate of Horse Training and Management Program (1975) Lamar Community College
  • Bachelor of Science, Earth Science (1978) University of Northern Colorado
  • Joseph Hartley Memorial Award, Salmugundi Club, New York
  • 2009 - Best of Sculpture for From Bad to Worse, Bosque Conservatory Art Classic, Clifton TX
  • 2007 - Best of Show and Purchase Award for bronze entitled Not Today, "Cowgirl Up! The Art from the Other Half of the West," Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ
  • 2007- 3rd Place-Oil Painting Hillside Herefords Phippen Museum Western Art Show, Prescott, AZ
  • 2005 - 2nd Place Sculpture Award- bronze entitled Twist n Shout
  • 2002-2005 - Official National Cutting Horse Association Trophy
  • 2004 - 30th Annual Phippen Museum Western Art Show, Foundation Award Home Schoolin' (Phippen Museum permanent collection)
  • 2004 - 3rd place Sculpture Award Hobbled, and Phippen Family Award
  • 2001 - Best of Sculpture -Western Spirit Show, Cheyenne, WY
  • 2001 - Best of Sculpture -Scottsdale Arts School Show, Scottsdale, AZ
  • 2000 - Best of Sculpture Scratch 'N Sniff - Western Spirit Show, Cheyenne, WY
  • 2000 - Best of Sculpture Patron - Best and the Brightest, Scottsdale Arts School, AZ
  • 1998 - Best of Show Joint Venture - La Junta Fine Arts League, CO
  • 1997 - Grand Prize for Excellence Lickitty Split, Gold Medal in Sculpture No Score - Knickerbocker Artists 45th Grand International Open Juried Exhibition "Signature Classic", Scottsdale, AZ
  • 1997 - Jurors Choice Award Lickitty Split - La Junta Fine Arts League, CO
  • Colorado Governor’s Invitational, CO
  • American Women Artists Show
  • U.S. West Corporation, Denver, CO
  • Southwest Eye Institute, Oklahoma City, Lawton, OK
  • Magness Land and Cattle, Platteville, CO
  • Magness Arabians, Platteville, CO
  • T-Cross Ranches, Pueblo, CO
  • 2021 - 20th Anniversary Night of Artists, Briscoe Western Art Museum, TX
  • 2017 - 25th Anniversary Celebration, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 2012 - 4th Annual Small Paintings Show and Sale, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
  • Present - 2011 - Annual Bosque Art Classic, Bosque Arts Center, Clifton, TX
  • Present - 2007 - Cowgirl Up!, Desert CO and Caballeros Museum, Wickenburg, AZ
  • Present - 2001 - Coors Western Art Exhibit, Denver CO
  • Present - 1998 - Annual Sculpture in the Park International Exhibition, Loveland, CO
  • Present-1993 - Mountain Oyster Club Contemporary Western Art Show and Sale, Tucson, AZ
  • 2001 - Desert Caballeros Western Museum's "Rising Stars 2001" Exhibition, Wickenburg, AZ
  • 1999 - Outlaw Artists Show and Sale, Fallbrook, CO
  • 1999, 1998 - Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame Art Show, Colorado Springs, CO
  • 1999-1995 - La Junta Fine Arts League Annual Art Show, CO
  • 1998-1997 - The City of Littleton Fine Arts Committee, Garden of Sculpture and Tent Show, Littleton, CO
  • 1997-1996 - Happy Canyon Western Art Invitational, Pendleton Roundup, Pendleton, OR
  • 1997 - Littleton Rotary Club Art Show, CO and Meeker Dog Trail and Art Show, CO
  • 1996 - Knickerbocker Artists 45th Grand International Open Juried Exhibition "Signature Classic" - Grand Prize for Excellence Lickitty Split, Gold Medal in Sculpture No Score, Scottsdale, AZ
  • 1999, 1997, 1992 - Loveland Sculpture Invitational Show and Sale, CO
  • America’s Horse in Art: AQHA Museum, Amarillo, TX
  • Salmugundi Non-Member Exhibition, New York, NY
  • National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum: Small Works Great Wonders, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Miniatures by the Lake, Coeur d’ Alene Galleries, ID
  • Phippen Museum Miniature Masterpieces Art Show & Sale, Prescott, AZ
  • Briscoe Museum, Night of Artists, San Antonio, TX
  • All American Limousin Futurity - Grand Champion Bull, Grand Champion Female, Grand Champion Bull Sponsor, Grand Champion Female Sponsor, 1995-2004
  • Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center, La Junta, CO - Monument Body and Soul, April 2000
  • Colorado Stallion Breeders Association, Sculpture for Futurity Champion Award, 10 years
  • National Cutting Horse Association.-Official Trophy- 2002-2005
  • Zane Schulte-Trainer of the Year Award-NCHA
  • National Cutting Horse Association World Record High Score Award
  • Wildlife Art
  • Western Art Collector
  • Art Talk
  • Performance Horse Magazine
  • Southwest Art
  • Quarter Horse News
  • Rodeo Sports News
  • Western Horseman Magazine
  • Cowboys and Indians