Jean Richardson, painter and printmaker, was born in Hollis, Oklahoma in 1940. When her father was drafted to serve in World War II, her mother moved with her to San Antonio, Texas and it was there, at the age of seven, where Richardson attended her first art lesson at the Witte Museum. Two years later her father returned from Europe and the family moved to Columbia, South Carolina. After graduating from high school, Richardson attended Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia on an art scholarship where she earned her B.F.A.

Richardson was married at age twenty-one and soon had a family of three to care for. While raising her children in Georgia and Alabama she was able to draw upon her artistic training and teach art education in schools and museums.

In the late 1970s, Richardson briefly attended the Art Students League in New York. She returned to Oklahoma and set up her studio. Soon, she was included in the Oklahoma Annuals at the Philbrook Art Museum in Tulsa. Her work has since been included in group exhibitions at the National Academy of Design, the Minnesota Museum of Art, and the Gilcrease Museum. Her paintings are held in numerous corporate collections nationally.

Richardson is primarily a painter who focuses on equine art and abstraction. She wrote, ”I love the animal. I was raised around horses and I know them well. But that’s not what my paintings are about. They’re about the horse as a metaphor. Unbridled energy, striving, sometimes heroic. The horse as a symbol of the human spirit.”

Selected solo exhibitions: John Szoke Gallery, NY; Merrill-Chase Galleries, Washington, D.C. and Chicago, IL; Cogswell Gallery, Vail, CO; Kneeland Gallery, Sun Valley, ID; Ventana Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; State Capitol of Oklahoma, Governor's Gallery; Triple Creek Ranch, Darby, MT (featured artist); Royce Meyers Gallery, Tulsa, OK.

Public collections: Bank of Santa Fe, NM; University of OKlahome College of Law, Norman, OK; Southwestern Bell, Washington, D.C.; Arthur Anderson Companies, St. Charles, IL; Marriott Hotels Corp,, Washington, D.C.; State Collection of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK; AT&T, San Ramon, CA; Yellow Freight, Kansas City, MO; Raymond James Financial, Inc., St. Petersburg, FL; Dean A. McGee Eye Institute, Oklahoma City, OK; Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City; Tupperware Coprporation, Orlando, FL; TCU, Fort Worth, TX; University of Oklahoma Health Science Center; Oklahoma City University School of Law.