Jan Shapiro
450 Harrison Avenue, Studio 230
www.janshapiroart.com on Instagram
About Jan
Some places stay with us long after we've left them. That's the feeling I hope to capture in my paintings.
I'm a Boston-based artist whose work explores memory, atmosphere, and the emotional experience of place. After a 30-year career as a visual designer, I returned to painting full time, bringing with me a deep appreciation for composition, color, and visual storytelling.
My paintings often begin outdoors, where I sketch and paint directly from life. Back in the studio, those impressions become something more than a record of a place. Through layers of oil paint, palette knife work, expressive brushstrokes, and, at times, subtle touches of gold leaf, I work to capture not only what I saw, but what I felt. Increasingly, I'm drawn to balancing observation with abstraction, allowing memory, emotion, and intuition to shape each painting.
Boston's streets, parks, gardens, and changing light remain a constant source of inspiration. Whether inspired by a city street, a coastline, or an unexpected moment along the way, my goal is always the same: to create paintings that invite viewers to reconnect with places, moments, and feelings that have stayed with them.
Today I paint from my studio in Boston's SoWa Art + Design District, where I continue to explore new directions that bridge landscape and abstraction while remaining rooted in the places that first inspired me.
