Background
Janet Elizabeth Turner was born April 7, 1914, in Kansas City, Missouri. She graduated from Stanford University and the Kansas
City Art Institute. She received her MFA from the Claremont Graduate School. She was an art professor at Stephen F. Austin
State College in Texas from 1947-1956, she then moved to New York to earn an Ed.D. at Columbia University.
In 1959 she was hired as a professor of fine art and art education at California State University, Chico. She taught classes
in printmaking. In 1975 was named one of two Outstanding Professors of the California State University System.
Turner was a member of and exhibited with the National Academy of Design, the Society of American Graphic Artists, the American
Color Print Society and the National Association of Women Artists. Her work was also exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, the Library of Congress, Brooklyn Museum and other competitive showings. Her paintings and prints are owned by many
museums and she was the recipient of numerous awards. In 1974 she was elected as an Academician of the National Academy of
Design. Turner retired from teaching in 1981. She died in Chico, California June 28, 1988.
Janet Turner collected prints spanning forty years. The Turner Print Museum, established in 1981 on the Campus of California
State University, Chico.