Jan was born in Glasgow, the city in Scotland where she worked as a photographer before training as a sculptor. Jan studied at The Glasgow School of Art from 1993-1997 to obtain a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. She was then invited to continue as a post graduate student and completed her Master’s degree in Philosophy in Art & Design in Organisational Contexts at The Glasgow School of Art/University of Glasgow in 1999. During and after art school Jan continued to travel around Europe and throughout Greece painting before Giant Productions offered her the position of Visual Arts Development Director which she accepted and enjoyed before returning to university to become a teacher. Jan now divides her time between teaching and painting.