Our precious sister, Jean Ellen Christopher (Christofori) Howton, passed away at her Hat Rock home gallery on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2022.
Jean was born on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1940 in Lena, Wis. to Eva and John Christopher.
Jean’s surviving sisters are Judy Grace Christopher Finch, Sally Lynn Christopher Hill and Cathleen Ann Christopher Vignola.
A tribute to our beloved sister Jean, an American artist, a national treasure, our artist at Hat Rock:
With so much sadness and broken hearts, we are compelled to lift our sister, Jean, from the ashes of an unrecognized death, to restore her dignity with respect, and to express our love and appreciation of an extraordinary life full of purpose, value and worth.
Jean grew up in Walla Walla, Wash. When Jean was old enough, she spent her summers picking strawberries at Klicker’s Farm with her sisters, Judy and Sally. Jean worked summers and after school at the Bee Hive Department Store painting their advertising signs and designing their window displays. Jean graduated from Walla Walla High School in 1959 and attended Washington State University, where she was crowned Sweetheart of Sigma Chi in 1960.
Jean was an accomplished artist. Like many students, she took art classes in high school and college. After college, Jean took a correspondence course from the Famous Artists School in New York City, as well as several art courses at Eastern Oregon University. Jean kept on painting and drawing, developing her style while nurturing her raw talent to create amazing works of art as a hobby.
As far as Jean could remember, she always wanted to be a professional artist. Jean’s eyes could see color and variations of color that most of us don’t see. Jean would replicate those colors by carefully mixing paint and applying it skillfully to canvases. Jean mastered the pencil, Conte crayon and charcoal with the perfect tension to produce many shades of gray and black that she needed to create her drawings. Jean’s representational subject matter started with people, barnyard animals, local wildlife and still life. Jean’s growth was visible in every new painting or drawing as she reached new levels of excellence.
True to herself and her mission, Jean started her professional career in 1975 by participating in juried art competitions at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts, 1976-1981, and the Pendleton Art Festival, 1980-1981. In these competitions, Jean was recognized with two first-place ribbons, one Citizens Award, a Country Garden Award, one Certificate of Competency, one Merchant’s Award, two third-place awards and one honorable mention.
We believe that Jean’s first gallery solo show was in 1977 at Millie’s Tiffany Shade Gallery in Lake Oswego. In 1978 Jean participated in three group shows, one at the Tualatin Country Club and one at the Carnegie Art Center, Walla Walla, Wash. In the third group show, Jean was one of a two-person show at the Studio Gallery in Hermiston. It was their second annual October Art Show. In 1979, Jean exhibited her artwork at the Jade Gallery in Richland, Wash.
Jean was honored with an art instructor position at Blue Mountain Community College in 1979 and thoroughly enjoyed giving art lessons. Also in 1979, Jean’s pencil drawings and paintings of sheep led to an invitation for a solo show at the Oregon Wool Growers Convention in Pendleton. Showcasing an artist at their convention was a first. Jean’s show was so successful that she was invited to the following conventions: Idaho Wool Growers Association in Boise, Idaho; Oregon Sheep Growers Association in Portland; National Wool Growers Association in Washington, D.C.; and the National Lamb Feeders Association, also in Washington D.C. All were solo shows of Jean’s original artwork and
limited edition lithographs of sheep. From 1979 to 1985, all of Jean’s current collections sold, totaling 74 pieces.
In the same year (1979), Jean discovered Caxton Printing in Caldwell, Idaho. Throughout Jean’s career, they were able to perfectly replicate her favorite paintings and pencil drawings into limited edition lithographs on acid-free, museum-quality paper and acid-free, museum-quality card stock for Jean’s gift card collections. Some of the lithograph pencil drawings she gently hand-colored with soft pastels, numbered them in order upon each sale, then signed them again.
In 1979 and 1980, Jean participated in the Junior Women’s Art Auction in Hermiston. Throughout Jean’s career, she donated original artwork to many charities sponsored by Altrusa International of Hermiston, the Junior Women’s Art Auction, Tri-Cities Sunrise Rotary, and Kiwanis clubs.
Starting with a couple of local shows in the early 1980s, Jean developed a business relationship when Wild Goose Design started selling Jean’s paintings, drawings, limited edition lithographs and art cards. This relationship turned into a dear friendship that lasted for years.
Jean developed a business relationship with Gallery West in Portland. In 1983, Jean had her first solo show at Gallery West and was invited to show for multiple years. In 1985, Western Heritage Bank, Hermiston, invited Jean to exhibit her paintings and drawings so they could be enjoyed by the Hermiston community. Also in the same year, Jean was honored with the offer of Oregon Artist in Residence.
Thirty-seven years ago (1986), Jean found her forever home on the banks of the Columbia River. It is a storybook neighborhood surrounded by undeveloped prairie grasslands and abundant wildlife, including migrating birds, geese, eagles, foxes and protected deer. Jean loved being outside in nature, exploring, sketching and working in her yard and on her deck. Jean’s new home had a
huge open loft, filled with massive walls of windows that flooded the loft with natural light, and spacious walls to hang her paintings and drawings. Jean quickly went to work, transferring her new loft into a full working artist’s studio with huge easels for larger-than-life paintings, using wide rolls of canvas and linen for stretching on frames she constructed. Jean conquered large canvases and painted masterpieces such as An Acre of Land, Spring Bouquet, Toulouse Geese and Theresa’s Rabbits, along with her drawings including Llama, Red Feather, NightHawk and Passing By. They were all perfectly replicated into limited-edition lithographs. All of the above paintings and drawings were part of Jean’s County Faire Collection of art gift cards, except for An Acre of Land and Passing By.
Jean’s friend from Wild Goose Design supplied her with a new contact in the greeting card business. With samplings of her artwork in tow, Jean met with the Gordon Fraser Gallery in New York City in the spring of 1987. She entered into a contractual agreement with Gordon Fraser Gallery, LTD to go tiny by drawing miniatures under a high-powered, lighted magnifying lens for card reproduction. They were so perfect you would never know they were drawn to card size. Every card had an original master drawing.
Always looking to expand connections, Jean traveled to Las Vegas in 1995 to show in the world-famous Art Expo held at the newly built Sands Convention Center.
While never abandoning her representational subject matter, Jean had a yearning to explore abstract art and was guided and encouraged by our sister, Judy, an art teacher from the Los Angeles area. Jean’s creative imagination was a true match with the abstract subject matter. We can remember Jean’s squeals of delight with her bold colors and sometimes soft pastels exploding on her canvases, with her saying, “I got it! I have finally got it!” Jean was a perfectionist, so dedicated, so gifted, and with an unbelievable work ethic.
Around 1999-2000, Jean was invited to experience life in Normandy, France while continuing to draw and paint. Jean accepted, packed up her supplies and set up her home studio in the small village of Muids. Jean lived, worked and showed her beautiful paintings in France including Paris, Ande, Avignon and Rouen. In 2005, Jean was the guest of honor at the Spring Fair in Les Andelys, France. Also in Les Andelys, Jean had a solo show at the famous Nicolas Poussin Museum. From France, Jean traveled and exhibited her art in Kiev, Ukraine.
Jean traveled back and forth from Muids, France to her home gallery in Hermiston for 10-plus years. Jean continued to show locally while expanding her art shows and exhibitions to more cities in the Northwest and the Southwest, including Seattle, Wash., Vancouver, B.C. and multiple locations in Portland and southern California, including Studio City and Laguna Beach.
Jean showed at Zado Gallery, Portland in 2001 and was recognized by National Public Radio and Zado Gallery for producing a wide variety of subjects from representational to abstract, and with the skill to manage different types of media and subjects, also noting Jean’s evolution from her earlier works while finding her own style. “… Jean’s newest work in a word, extraordinary … Jean has actually translated to the canvas how jazz feels to the ear,” wrote Catherine Lenox of National Public Radio, April 2001.
With many fond memories while growing up in Walla Walla, Wash., Jean was happy to exhibit her artwork at the Red Door in 2005. Woodward Canyon Winery in the Walla Walla Valley honored Jean by selecting her quadriptych painting, Stop the Blue, for their Artist Series #14 label in 2005. The Stop the Blue label was perfectly paired with a special edition of Woodward Canyon’s Columbia Valley cabernet sauvignon. Stop the Blue has a permanent home in Woodward Canyon Winery’s Reserve Room. You can also view Stop the Blue online at Woodward Canyon Winery’s website, www.woodwardcanyon.com. It is stunning.
Jean exhibited with the Oregon Visual Arts Ecology Project at Pendleton Center for the Arts with an opening night reception on April 4, 2008, showcasing Jean’s abstract paintings. For the next two years, Jean exhibited her work at The Left Coast Gallery in Studio City, Calif., 2009-2010.
Over the years, Jean’s dear friends at Sno Road Winery, Echo hosted three art shows for her. The first show in 2011 was at the historic Sno Road Winery. The second show in 2018 and the third show in 2019 were hosted by Sno Road Winery in Jean’s home gallery at Hat Rock. All three were professionally done, well attended and successful. The whole community came together for Jean’s art shows, where they rolled up their sleeves and supported their artist at Hat Rock. It was a beautiful outpouring of love and support.
In early spring of 2013, Jean was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. She was devastated and terrified. Jean went to Seattle to seek treatment at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. When Jean’s arduous treatment plan was set, our sister Sally, who lives north of Seattle, graciously welcomed Jean into her home and drove her to all of the treatment sessions until she was able to go home. Jean lived the rest of her life cancer free.
Judy and Jean were born 11 months apart, and they had a strong lifelong bond. Judy expressed to me, “From the very beginning, we were often one word: JudyandJean.” Because of their many shared experiences, their conversations were often interspersed with, “Remember when … ?” Judy and Jean had a never-ending bond. Their closeness helped them survive a harsh childhood. “We were very close. Losing Jean has been unbearable for me, I loved Jean so much, and hers is definitely the most difficult loss I have ever experienced.”
For me, losing Jean has been unbearable, as well. My earliest memories were around the age of 4. Despite our age gap of 11 years, Jean initiated our very close sister relationship as I was always welcomed to be around her; she was nice, quiet and soft. Jean lived in close proximity to me when I was growing up and often took the time to visit me. Jean ingratiated me with unconditional love
and support. Throughout our lives, we remained close and shared everything about our lives with each other. I truly loved everything about her and I miss her so. Jean was so grand!
Greatness does not come around very often, and it is not a given. It is achieved through desire, loving what you do, putting your work first, having a passion for your work, sacrificing, not giving up, doing what it takes, possessing an unbelievable work ethic and sharing your efforts with others. God-given gifts of heart, goodness, genius, talent, inner and outer beauty, poise and stature can remain undiscovered and unused unless applied. And apply Jean did!
To the Hermiston community and nearby communities including Echo, Pendleton, Walla Walla and Tri-Cities, neighbors, friends and clients, we want to thank all of you for the love and support you gave to our sister, Jean. Jean truly loved all of you.
To those who helped Jean start her career many years ago by keeping her informed of upcoming opportunities, introducing her to new contacts, hosting successful art shows in Jean’s home gallery, traveling with her to set up art shows out of town, driving to Portland to help her set up a show at the Zado Gallery and treating her to dinner, or just being proud of Jean and admiring her art work, bringing lunch to her home to eat with her, driving her to the Tri-Cities for doctors’ appointments, enjoying glasses of wine with Jean while star gazing at night with your massive telescope, taking her to the hospital, bringing her flowers, going shopping with Jean in the Tri-Cities, dropping off bags of groceries, helping Jean with her yard and lawn mower many times, working on Jean’s electrical panel, inviting Jean to your homes for dinners, taking her out to dinner or breakfast at Shari’s, coming over many times for movies with Kentucky Fried Chicken, having each other’s keys to your homes, you were that kind of friend.
All of you were family to our sister Jean. We know who you all are; even if we have not met you, we have heard of your many kindnesses. With all of our
hearts, we thank you so much. There is a saying, “It takes a village,” and it is so fitting because you were absolutely instrumental in Jean’s art career and her life’s journey as the wonderful friends you were. You supported our sister, Jean, you were a helpful neighbor, you were her friend, you laughed with her, you loved Jean just like she was, “An Original”!
With aches in our hearts, we are sorry all of you did not have the opportunity to say goodbye to Jean. Our requests were ignored. Jean’s friends at Sno Road Winery graciously and generously offered to host Jean’s celebration of life at their winery. Their offer was shrugged off. No need to worry, Jean is with us now. Jean is our sister, our friend, our neighbor, our artist at Hat Rock. In our hearts and our minds, we will carry Jean’s memory, we will cherish Jean’s memory, and yes, Jean, we all love you, most of all. “Most of all” was a thing that we will share with you, it was always funny and just darling… Jean always wanted to hear, “I love you,” followed with “and of course, most of all!” Then we would break out laughing!
To the Hermiston Herald, Ruralite, Northeast Oregon Now, East Oregonian and the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, we thank you for your wonderful coverage of our sister Jean’s art career from the beginning in 1975. The clippings of all of your articles were paramount in documenting Jean’s career. Unfortunately, Jean’s website has been dismantled, however, there are a few wonderful semi-recent articles that are easy to access:
“Living Life to the Fullest,” Feb. 18, 2014, Jean Christofori Howton by Claire Franell www.northeastoregonnow.com/living-life-fullest.
“Abstract Nature,” Oct. 18, 2018, Jean Christofori Howton by Jade McDowell, East Oregonian, via https://bit.ly/45qnSl1.
“Artist Turns Hat Rock Home into Gallery,” Sept. 17, 2019, Jean Christofori Howton by Jade McDowell, East Oregonian via https://bit.ly/3Q8GAt0.
Jean’s great strength and freedom were in her artwork. Jean’s legacy will stand on its own.
“I recognized my artistic desire as a young child. What I did not realize then was that those early beginnings were harsh.
The common ingredient for success is coming from hunger or nothing. It produces drive and determination.
I may not be rich financially, but I am rich in the ability to share beauty and give back to the world my incredible gift.”
By Jean Christofori Howton, Jan. 12, 2013.
