Jan Ciganick

Adjunct Professor, Administrative Assistant, Slide Librarian

Courses:

Moravian College Teaching: Global Perspectives in Art to the Renaissance;
Art History Since the Renaissance;
Independent Studies in History of Architecture and American Art

Education:

M.B.A., St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA
B.S., Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia
Additional study at Lafayette College, Cedar Crest College, Moravian College
Additional graduate work, Boston University Overseas Program, Wurzburg, Germany

Biography:

Jan Ciganick, administrative assistant and slide curator for the art department, has background in art and art history as well as in business and information systems. She teaches art history survey survey courses and specializes in architecture and American art. She prepares visual images for art history and studio art classes and special lectures on a variety of themes for various on- and off-campus groups. She also plans museum trips for the Art Department and serves as co-adviser to the Art Club.

As an artist, Jan specializes in renderings of architecture. She works primarily in watercolor in a style inspired by American folk art. Her work is found in many regional collections, including Mrs. Priscilla Payne Hurd, Springtown, PA; former mayor William Heydt, Allentown, PA; Mr. and Mrs. Edward Coleman, Allentown, PA / Palm Beach, FL, and Dr. Diane Radycki, New York. Among the many regional businesses and organizations who have commissioned her work are The Hotel Bethlehem, Bethlehem; Valley Youth House, Bethlehem; Eastern Pennsylvania Cerebral Palsy Association, Bethlehem; Lehigh Valley Hospital Center, Allentown; Roosevelt Elementary School, Allentown; Schmoyer Funeral Home, Breinigsville; Wydnor Hall Bed and Breakfast, Bethlehem; Joan Moran, Allentown; Dr. Geller, Allentown; Dr. Termini, Allentown; and Knopp Funeral Home, Allentown. Paintings and pen-and-inks of Moravian College buildings are in the collections of the Frueauff Foundation, Mrs. Priscilla Payne Hurd, alumnus Frank Gleva, Dr. Harold Goldfarb, the Moravian College President’s Office, and patrons of the Moravian College Art Auction.

Her work was featured in a solo show at Reading Area Community College in November-December 2005. She participated in the Paint-Out sponsored by Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission at Bethlehem Steel in October 2004; her painting “Blast Furnace #4, Bethlehem Steel” was included in “Moment in Time: The Bethlehem Steel Plant Today” in December 2005-January 2006. Other regional art exhibitions include the Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA; the Lehigh River: Then and Now, Bethlehem, PA; Lehigh Hospital Center Juried Show, Allentown, PA; Laurel Festival, Jim Thorpe, PA; and Art and Wine Invitational, Frenchtown, NJ. She participates in many regional Pennsylvania art festivals, including the Sidewalk Art Show, Bethlehem; West Park Art Show, Allentown; Tinicum Park Arts Festival, Erwinna; Canal Festival, Easton; Muhlenberg Hospital Summer Festival, Bethlehem; and Deep Run Festival, Bedminster. Awards were received at West Park and the Bethlehem Sidewalk Art Show. In 1991, she was selected as Musikfest Mural Artist. She has been a finalist in two Bethlehem Holiday Stamp competitions. She is a member of Bethlehem Palette Club.

Previously, she taught high school for the U.S. Army High School completion program run by Temple University in Wildflecken, Germany.

Artist Statement:

"The sincerity and attention to detail of American folk art inspires my work. The work of artists such as Grandma Moses, Horace Pippin, and other outsider artists strikes a chord with me. I continue to strive to achieve the unaffected artistic honesty their work conveys.

My subject matter is the landscape, particularly architecture. I respond to the challenge of rendering the intricacies of perspective and architectural detail, to the play of light and shadow across textures of brick, slate, stone and wood, to the contrast and compliment of a structure and its setting.

Many of my paintings are set in the landscape I know best, that of Eastern Pennsylvania. Although I often paint our historic sites, I am also challenged by attempting to render factories, mines, farms and other commercial structures. In addition, many homeowners commission me to do portraits of their homes, modern or historic, large or small; I try to showcase each home with the same attention as the homeowners do themselves."