Creating Chocolate Masterpieces By Jean L. Zaun

Initially, Jean's exploration of chocolate as a creative medium was a way to assuage the tedium of her day job as a confectioner hand dipping exquisite chocolates at her family's third generation candy store located in the heart of downtown, Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Jean remarks in her creative evolution "…self-preservation as a visual artist, I was literally 'stuck' in a puddle of chocolate eight hours a day." Jean progressed into further exploration of chocolate as an art medium. Subsequently, Jean's creative journey caught the curious eye of the Toledo Museum of Art. Who upon reviewing the fresh artistic medium commissioned thirty-seven chocolate paintings to enhance the museum's Van Gogh "Fields" exhibit, culminating in March, 2003. The museum presented Jean as their guest artist wherein she created works of chocolate art live during the Van Gogh birthday party, which was held for the public inside the museum.
Consequently, Jean's chocolate paintings have appeared on CNN, Ladies' Home Journal (2/04), Woman's World Magazine 6/03, the Food Network's "Roker on the Road" (4/20) and "Unwrapped" 3/7/05, and the "Sharon Osbourne Show" (2/13/04). Also appeared in the "American Profile Magazine, July 8 2007, "Creating Chocolate Masterpieces".