Jan Rindfleisch has focused on community building as an artist, educator, curator and author. Her most recent books are published through Ginger Press, a collaborative with Nancy Hom and Ann Sherman to creatively promote community, spotlight and preserve cultural history, and inspire activism. Ginger Press publications include Creative Power: The Art and Activism of Ruth Tunstall Grant (2019) and Roots and Offshoots: Silicon Valley’s Arts Community (2017).

In 2019 in the online journal California Desert Art, Rindfleisch recounted years of research and collaboration that gave rise to the current reappraisal of and renewed interest in the art of Agnes Pelton. Awakenings: An Untold Backstory of the Agnes Pelton Renaissance.  Making the Desert Flower: An Alternative Look at Rarely Seen Agnes Pelton Paintings was an in-depth follow-up article.

In 2014, Rindfleisch wrote an online essay about “Ohlone Art and Building Community” and a lifestyle in sync with nature. http://www.janrindfleisch.com/Projects.html#OhloneArtAndBuildingCommunity

Rindfleisch has written essays and over a dozen books in conjunction with the California History Center, Euphrat Museum of Art, San José Museum of Art, Arts Council Silicon Valley, Southern Exposure (San Francisco), Bronx Museum of the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Artship Foundation (Oakland), and many other public, private, and governmental institutions. These include Coming Across: Art by Recent Immigrants; The Power of Cloth: Political Quilts 1845–1986; Content: Contemporary Issues; and Staying Visible, The Importance of Archives. Rindfleisch earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Purdue University and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from San José State University.   

From 1978 to 1985, she taught art and art history at De Anza College, and in 1979 began a 32-year journey as executive director/curator of Euphrat Museum of Art. Together with Euphrat board members and college and community activists, Rindfleisch created an interdisciplinary forum for exploring cultural issues, fostering civic engagement, and expanding opportunity and visibility for artists working outside the mainstream. Questioning assumptions and working in supportive collaboration with people of all ages and backgrounds, she developed thought-provoking exhibitions and innovative programs, including arts education programs for at-risk youth.

In addition to actively supporting small arts organizations and the emerging arts community, Rindfleisch helped found the Cupertino Arts Commission, participated in the Getty Museum Management Institute, and served on the Santa Clara County Arts Council, the California Arts Council Visual Arts Panel, the Arts Council Silicon Valley Local Arts Grants Review Panel, and San José City Hall Exhibits Committee. Rindfleisch has been recognized as a Silicon Valley Business Journal Woman of Influence and a Santa Clara County Woman of Achievement. She has also received the Arts Council Silicon Valley’s Arts & Business (ABBY) Arts Leadership Award; Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce Leadership Vision Award in the Arts; the Civic Service Award in Cultural Arts from the City of Cupertino; and the Asian Heritage Council Arts Award.

Interests include: research and documentation, archives, rethinking history and values, systems, ideas, beliefs, structures, context, change, nature, collaboration.      

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