Irena Dragaš Jansen is a writer, speaker, and art historian, but the title that describes her best is curator. Her faith, her love of words and the visual arts, and her cross-cultural Croatian-American life are what frame her view. It is her desire to weave these strands together and invite others into a thoughtful and experiential encounter with the ultimate Artist.

Irena grew up in a Christian family in communist Yugoslavia. In 1991, Yugoslavia collapsed and the ensuing war drove her and her family from their home, forcing them to live as refugees. Through a miraculous convergence of circumstances, Irena attended a university in the United States where she studied English Literature and Bible.

Upon graduation, she returned to the newly independent Croatia where she helped develop a Christian non-profit organization and served as director for thirteen years. In 2010 she married Scott and moved to the United States where she currently splits her time between Arlington, Virginia and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Irena continues to serve non-profits in Croatia through program and resource development and travels often to her beloved homeland where she treasures spending time with her Croatian family. After receiving a master’s degree in art history from George Mason University, she is now focusing on projects exploring the power of art and faith.

Her most recent work will be presented at The Understory Festival at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington DC. Together with her friend, Nancy Sawyer Schraeder, Irena is curating a spiritual memoir which exhibits God the Artist’s imaginative and transformative work in her life.