Born in Singapore and residing in California, Elaine is an artist creating in a variety of media. She celebrates Nature in the form of Botanical Art, Ceramics, Silversmithing and Lapidary. She attained a B.A. in Studio Arts at Loyola Marymount University, California.
I am writing this in a room where everything around me is produced by machines almost without human touch. But this is my, or our reality now. I reflected that my artwork are formed by a human, by me. And even then I need a potters wheel and a kiln to create my ceramics, a torch to melt and solder silver. As an artist, I feel I must make art if only to wrestle an idea into reality and to marvel about Nature.
-Elaine Jek
2025 • Preserving Beauty
Huddle. Mountain View, CA
-Ceramics in hands-on interactive installation
2020 • Plants Illustrated: Rare and Endangered Plants
UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens. Berkeley, CA
-Botanical art
2018 • Artist Mom Exhibition
Mitchell Park Community Center.
Palo Alto, CA
-Ceramics
2014 • Filoli 16th Annual Botanical Art Exhibition.
Woodside, CA
-Botanical art
2012 • NuFact 2012 Conference, Solo Exhibition
College of William & Mary. Williamsburg, VA
-Oil painting
2010 • Holiday Boutique and Gift Show
Sun Gallery. Hayward, CA
-Watercolor botanical art, silverwork & lapidary, oil painting
2007 • Holiday Gift Gallery
Phantom Studios. San Jose, CA
-Watercolor botanical art, silverwork & lapidary, oil painting
2004 • Metal Arts Guild Exhibition
Oakland Museum of California's Collectors Gallery. Oakland, CA
-Silverwork & lapidary
Upcoming:
The University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley Florilegium documents rare and endangered plants throughout the world in living collections at the Garden.
2026 • The University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley Florilegium
UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens. Berkeley, CA
-Botanical illustration
The Alcatraz Florilegium is a series of botanical paintings, created by the Northern California Society of Botanical Artists in collaboration with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the Garden Conservancy to document the plants growing on Alcatraz Island.
2017 • The Gardens of Alcatraz Florilegium
Orinda Library. Orinda, CA
-Botanical art
2014 • The Gardens of Alcatraz Florilegium
Greening Gallery. Marin Headlands, CA
-Botanical art
2013 • The Gardens of Alcatraz Florilegium
Alcatraz Prison Band Room.
Alcatraz Island, CA
-Botanical art
2021 • American Society of Botanical Artists Virtual Conference
Painting demonstrations and discussions with highly distinguished botanical artists including Margaret Best, Jean Emmons, Sarah Morrish
2009 • Revere Academy Masters Symposium
Workshops with art jewelry master craftsmen
Bernd Munsteiner (Lapidary)
Michael Good (Anticlastic raising)
Revere Academy. San Francisco, CA
1990 • Bachelor of Arts in Studio Arts
Loyola Marymount University
Los Angeles, CA
2004 • San Mateo County Fair
Gold Award in Jewelry
Opal Traders International Jewelry Award
-Silverwork & lapidary
The Botanical Artist: Journal of the American Society of Botanical Artists
2022 Vol 28 Issue 2
Article: Monster or Muse?
Artwork: Nepenthes Ephippiata
The Botanical Artist: Journal of the American Society of Botanical Artists
2017 Vol 23 Issue 3
Article: Musings While Painting a Deadly Nightshade
Artwork: Solanum marginatum
Public Garden: Magazine of the American Public Gardens Association
2016 Vol 31 Issue 2
Artwork: Pyracantha coccinea
Editor: Jeffrey B. Snyder, Art Jewelry Today 2 Schiffer Publishing, 2008
Artwork: Bullet
The Anti-War Medals exhibition was the reaction and response to the war in Iraq by San Francisco Bay Area metal artists.
2007 • Anti-War Medals
- expanded to 200 artists from 16 countries
Gallery I/O. New Orleans, LA
-Silverwork & lapidary
2003 - 2005 • Anti-War Medals
Velvet daVinci. San Francisco, CA
The exhibition developed into a tour with shows at Electrum Gallery London, UK, Norway and Spain
-Silverwork & lapidary
2016, 2012, 2002 • Silicon Valley Open Studios
Los Altos, CA and Palo Alto, CA
-Botanical art, acrylic and oil painting, ceramics, silverwork & lapidary