Carla J. Jaranson (Burke, Virginia) graduated from Madison College (JMU) with a BS in Art Education. She has taught art to children and adults for over 50 years and retired from teaching elementary art in 2010. In 2000 she earned a Masters Degree in Painting and Computer Art from Virginia Commonwealth University. She worked as an adjunct professor with George Mason University in Art Education for two years.
Her study of Chinese brush painting began in 1978 under Pearl Chang and continued under many other master artists. She joined Sumi-e Society of America in 1983 and was active in the local chapter. Since 1996 she has shared her love of East Asian brush painting by teaching workshops for art teachers in Virginia and web mastering the Sumi-e Society website. In 2008 she was selected as the Elementary Art Teacher of the Year for Virginia by the Virginia Art Education Association. She has served as the Sumi-e Society President since 2012.

Artist Statement
My art contains the influences of both Eastern and Western traditions with the harmony, elegance and spirit of the former and the experimentation and some techniques of the latter. As a young child, I lived for three years in Japan. In college I studied to become an art teacher, but had no training in Asian art.

Since 1978, I have studied East Asian brush painting, an art form that appears easy in the hands of a master artist. The joy of successfully accomplishing a difficult brush stroke after months of practice is most sweet. My vision is to show each subject in its own unique universe, one which I commemorate through my brush strokes.

After teaching art at all levels with Fairfax County Public Schools for 26 years, I retired in 2010. I feel that I am first and foremost an educator at heart, both as a student and an instructor. I acquire knowledge so that, with enhanced insights, I can pass it on to others.

My first Chinese painting teacher gave me a name in Mandarin based on the phonetic sound of Jaranson. Thank you, Cloud, Life/Birth. Landscape painting is my love and I have used this name with joy for over 40 years.

Carla J. Jaranson