Two New Exhibitions in the Bay Area include Jane Ingram Allen’s handmade paper artworks
LOCAL ROOTS
July 17 – August 25, 2026
San Pablo Community Center, San Pablo, CA
Reception: Saturday, July 18, 2026, 2:00-4:00 PM
Marguerite Elliot and Elizabeth Addison, ROOTS International Art Project Co-founders present this inaugural exhibition featuring a selection of Bay Area ROOTS Artist Members. Two of Jane’s pieces from the “Fire and Water” Series are included in this exhibition. “Fire and Water 1” and Fire and Water 4” were created in 2025-26 using her handmade kozo and abaca fiber paper, thread, dyes, controlled burning with fire retardant and holes made with water. This series explores global warming and effects of wildfires and floods on the environment. Jane Ingram Allen, “Fire and Water 1”, 18 x 24 inches, handmade paper, dyes, thread, controlled burning and water marks, included in “Local Roots” exhibition at San Pablo Community Center Gallery, San Pablo, CA, Jul. 17 – Aug. 25, 2026
Artists in the Local Roots exhibition:Laura Abrams, Elizabeth Addison (ROOTS Co-founder), Jane Ingram Allen, Lucy Ames, Salma Arastu, Magué Calanche, Catherine Daley, Marguerite Elliot (ROOTS Co-founder), J. Ruth Gendler, Renée Owen, and Donna Day Westerman ROOTS International Art Project connects nature, women, and art—bringing together women-identified artists from diverse backgrounds. The collective focus of ROOTS rests on the intrinsic beauty of the natural world and the imperative need to safeguard our environment.
GREEN A Juried Exhibition of NCWCA (Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art) Members and Invited Artists
Reception: Saturday, July 25, 7-9 PM
Jane’s multi-part installation “Different Worlds” is one of 37 works selected for inclusion in GREEN. This installation is suspended from the ceiling and uses Jane’s handmade kozo fiber paper, threads, horsehair, and acrylic paint and gel and was created after her residency in Japan and seeing maps of the world with Japan in the center and the USA very small and far off to the right. The mostly blue and green circles show the globe turned around with different views in the center and focus on how important green forests and grasslands are for life on earth.
Jane Ingram Allen, “Different Worlds”, 2000-2002, suspended installation of handmade kozo fiber paper, threads, horsehair, acrylic paint and gel, dimensions variable, 8 units each 12 – 36 inches diameter, included in “Green” exhibition at ARC Gallery, SF, July 17 – Aug. 22, 2026,
The exhibition explores the myriad expressions conjured by this single word GREEN—its colors, concepts, contradictions, and cultural weight. Jane was selected as an invited artist for this exhibition and is a member of NCWCA.
These images were all taken by a volunteer at the Festival and show some public participants working on making their own “house” for the installation and adding to the community public art installation in the back garden area at NY2CA Gallery, 617 First Street, Benicia, CA. The over 100 “houses” each about 4 x 4 x 6 inches were created using wire mesh joined with copper wires and then dipped into different colors of paper pulp made from cotton, abaca and recycled plant fibers. The wet “houses” were then decorated with various natural and recycled materials such as flower petals, leaves, bits of fabric, paper, thread and other found materials. The “houses” were placed in the public art installation to dry and picked up later by participants. The installation will remain on view (at least some of the houses that have not been picked up yet) until the close of Jane Ingram Allen’s exhibition “The Work of Earth and Hand”, ending June 21, 2026. Contact NY2CA Gallery
https://ny2cagallery.com for more information. Jane Ingram Allen may be contacted at info@janeingramallen.com or through a comment on this site. Thanks to the 15 volunteers from around the area who came to help for this day long public art activity. All were experienced teachers and papermakers!
The Opening Reception for Jane’s solo exhibition at NY2CA Gallery last Saturday was a wonderful evening of art, music, food and conversation at NY2CA Gallery, 617 First Street, Benicia, CA. Jane gave a Gallery Talk responding to questions about her works from gallery director Vickie Marchand. Many people attended and also enjoyed live music by local musicians and great food in the gallery’s back patio area. Jane’s work remains on view in the gallery till June 21, and the NY2CA Gallery is open Thursday through Sundays, Noon to 5 pm. Jane will be there in Benicia at the gallery again on June 6 for the Benicia Arts Festival day to conduct a public art activity at the gallery. The public is invited to make a “house” for a public art installation of over 100 handmade paper and wire mesh “houses” in the patio and garden area behind NY2CA Gallery.
See the gallery’s website at https://ny2cagallery.com for information about the exhibition and the Benicia Arts Festival.
Here are some photos of the gallery reception on Saturday, May 16, 2026, for Jane’s exhibition taken by Timothy S. Allen:
Site Botanical – Banana, 2006, Handmade paper from Taiwan banana leaves, collage with real banana leaves, acrylic paint and gel, digital photo of banana display in local market by Timothy S. Allen, 72 x 25 inches, two sided suspended work.
Jane will also be at NY2CA Gallery in Benicia for the Benicia Arts Festival on Saturday, June 6, 2026, to conduct a public participatory art activity to make over 100 handmade paper “houses” for an outdoor public art installation in the area behind the gallery. People are invited to come make their own handmade paper “house” during the public activity from 11 am – 4 pm on June 6.
Jane’s 1998 installation of 200 handmade paper birds on a barn in New York State. There will be a “Bird Watching in Benicia” installation of flying and standing “birds” in NY2CA Gallery’s storefront window area as part of Jane’s 2026 exhibition, “The Work of Earth and Hand”, May 14 – June 21, 2026.“House” example for public art installation “Houses – Building Community” at NY2CA Gallery, Benicia, public participation activity on June 6, 11-4 pm“Chiayi Houses”, 2005, mixed media installation of hundreds of handmade paper and wire mesh “houses” for public art installation for Chiayi Lantern Festival, sited on unused railway platform in downtown Chaiyi City, Taiwan, each “house 6″ x 4″ x 4”, handmade paper pulp, wire hardware cloth, wire, tea candles.
My piece (c 1975) is now in the collection of the Crocker Art Museum, and it is a loom woven over-sized legal pad with my family’s typical grocery list written on it with hand embroidery. It is an honor to have my work in the Crocker’s collection and to have this piece shown with so many excellent feminist artists, including Frida Kahlo!
Solo Exhibition Opens May 16, 2026, in Benicia, CA: The Work of Earth and Hand: Jane Ingram Allen
Opening Reception and Artist Talk on Saturday, May 16, 5-7 pm, at NY2CA Gallery, 617 First Street, Benicia, CA
NY2CA Gallery Director Vickie Marchand has visited my Santa Rosa studio two times to select works for this show and to plan activities during the exhibition which will close on June 21.
I will also be in Benica on Saturday, June 6, at the gallery to do a public art installation I am calling “Building Community – Benicia Houses” that will involve some hands-on public participation papermaking to create over 100 small houses and arrange them for a public art installation in the gallery’s back garden space. Volunteers who have taken my papermaking workshops will be helping participants create their own “house” for the installation that will remain on view until June 21. The papermaking activity will run from 11 – 4 on June 6. There will also be many other activities that day in downtown Benicia with lots of art to see!
One of more than 35 works in my Benicia Exhibition at NY2CA Gallery California Blooming – Poppies, 2025, 25 x 75 inches, Mixed Media handmade paper pulp painting with threads and gel.
34 of my “Made in Taiwan” artworks created during my two years (2003-04 and 2004-05) as a Fulbright Scholar Artist in Taiwan are now in the collection of the Tainan Art Museum, Tainan, Taiwan.
All of these works now in the Tainan Art Museum’s collection were created using materials collected at 13 different places all around Taiwan, where I used over 135 different plants of Taiwan to make the handmade paper for these mixed-media artworks. I am planning an exhibition of some of these handmade paper “sitemaps” with the Tainan Art Museum curators for Fall 2026. Check back for more details on this exhibition and some public workshops and other activities on a possible 2-week trip to Taiwan at the end of October and first of November, 2026.
One of the 34 works in the collection of Tainan Art Museum, Tainan, Taiwan Chiayi Site Map, 2005, 35 x 78 inches, mixed media, handmade paper from plants of Chiayi County, Taiwan, thread, acrylic paint and gel, other items collected in Chiayi, part of my “Made In Taiwan” Fulbright Scholar research grant project.
New Collaboration Feeling the Heat with printmaking artist Jami Taback is in progress. Jami and I are calling this new multi-part eco-art installation “Feeling the Heat”, and it is focused on environmental issues related to fire, global warming and climate change, using handmade paper, thread, dye, controlled burning and printmaking. The project is an extension of our “In Deep Water” collaborative project begun in 2020 and exhibited at 5 non-profit venues in Northern California, NJ and NY as well as one foundation gallery in Taiwan. Our In Deep Water Project was supported by grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Puffin Foundation and Live Forever Foundation, Taiwan. This time the collaboration is via Zoom and shipping parts back and forth between PA where Jami now lives and Santa Rosa, CA, where I continue to be based. We expect to premier this new installation either in Northern CA or in the Northeastern US in late 2026 or early 2027. We are actively seeking venues to exhibit this work and also applying for grants and other support. This “Feeling the Heat” installation will feature multiple swirling panels with fire imagery and hand papermaking and printmaking joined by threads and suspended from the ceiling in site-specific installations by the artists. Public programs and hands-on workshops will be offered at each venue. Keep watching for more news and photos of this in-progress large-scale eco-art collaborative installation.
Jane Ingram Allen and Jami Taback, Feeling the Heat (installation in progress), 2026, dimensions variable, multiple panels, handmade abaca and kozo fiber paper, threads, ink, dyes, pigments, controlled burning and collage with acrylic gel.
Spring 2026 Papermaking Art Classeswith Jane Ingram Allen
Location of Classes: Jane Ingram Allen’s home & studio, 5017 Maiden Lane, Santa Rosa, CA 95409, phone 857-234-2432, email: info@janeingramallen.com
Registration: To insure your place in a class, send a check made out to Jane Ingram Allen for the class fee by mail to the address above, or use PayPal (www.paypal.com) to “send money” to info@janeingramallen.com with a credit card. If you choose to use PayPal, be sure to send the whole amount and pay for the service fee. Class size is limited to 5 people, and registration will be confirmed after receipt of the class fee. For more information call or email.
Schedule of Classes
Japanese Hand Papermaking – Celebrating Kozo
Date: Saturday, March 21, 10 am to 4 pm
Class Fee: $200 (includes all materials and equipment)
Learn how to make paper with Japanese Kozo (paper mulberry bark) and other plant fibers using Japanese techniques that Jane learned in Mino City, Japan, during a 4-month artist-in-residency award. The Japanese methods can create unique handmade paper that is super thin and translucent but still very strong and used for everything from clothing to sculpture. This class will use some of the Kozo fiber Jane orders from Mino City, where she was an artist-in-residence in 1999 and returned in 2009. Also, other locally-available Mulberry tree fibers and various plant fibers will be used in the Japanese way to create handmade paper. We will use an authentic sugeta (wooden frame and bamboo woven screen) as well as Western molds & deckles (wooden frame and nylon screening) and formation aid from powdered polyethylene oxide and from okra juice. The class will cover preparing fiber, preparing the vat, adding formation aid, various ways of sheet forming and drying handmade papers as well as creative ways to use the long fibers of the paper mulberry and other similar plants. Information about obtaining kozo fibers and a Japanese-style sugeta as well as growing your own fibers for Japanese papermaking will be shared in this workshop. No experience required, but some papermaking experience will be helpful.
Jane Ingram Allen, Turning Over a New Leaf, 1999-2000, 5 x 12 feet, 2000 handmade Kozo fiber leaves, created at 4 month- artist-in-residency at Mino Paper Art Village Project, Mino City, Japan
EXTREME Papermaking
Date: Saturday, April 18, 10 am to 4 pm
Class Fee: $200 (includes all materials and equipment)
.This class will stretch your imagination about the possibilities for handmade paper art. It will cover many unique and non-traditional EXTREME papermaking techniques including making really BIG paper, shaped handmade paper, pouring pulp, modeling pulp, burning handmade paper, tearing it and making holes and other techniques Jane has invented and discovered in places around the world. This class will include making paper thread, making sounds with paper, kinetic paper, living paper art installations and other extreme techniques to enliven your art. Enrich your handmade paper art and expand its possibilities. This class is for beginners and experienced papermakers.
Jane Ingram Allen, Site Botanical – Taiwan Banana, 2006, 6 feet x 2 feet, handmade paper from Taiwan banana leaves, real banana leaves, acrylic paint, gel, thread, two-sided suspended work, created during artist-in-residency project at Taiwan National Museum of Natural Sciences Botanical Garden, Taichung, Taiwan.
Going Wild with Color in Hand Papermaking
Date: Saturday, May 30, 10 am to 4 pm
Class Fee: $200 (includes all materials and equipment)
This class will focus on using color in 2 and 3-dimensional hand papermaking art. Learn to use non-toxic eco-friendly fiber reactive dyes and natural dyes from local plants and purchased sources to color paper pulps such as abaca, Kozo, cotton and local plant fibers. Learn about the advantages of using dye for paper pulp as well as using pigments. Also, use papermaking fibers from local plants that have their own beautiful natural colors. Go wild with color and explore using pulp painting, stenciling and other creative ways to introduce more color into your handmade paper art. No experience necessary, though experienced papermakers will also learn many new and original coloring methods and techniques. If you are a painter, printmaker, sculptor or fiber artist and like color in your work, this is the workshop for you.
Jane Ingram Allen, California Blooming – Poppies, 2025, Pulp Painting on handmade abaca and kozo fiber paper, acrylic gel, threads, dye, 2 feet x 6 feet
Sculptural Papermaking – Creating 3-Dimensional Handmade Paper Art
Date: Saturday, June 27, 10 am to 4 pm
Class Fee: $200 (includes materials and equipment)
This class will expand your papermaking into three dimensions by introducing various ways to make handmade paper sculptural forms, including use of molds, drying on 3-D surfaces, construction techniques, modeling with pulp and using armatures. We will use abaca, cotton, Kozo and other plant fiber pulps to get different sculptural effects. Participants will create new sculptural handmade paper works that are free-standing, suspended and wall reliefs. Participants will come away with many ideas for handmade paper sculpture and installation art. This workshop is for beginning and experienced papermakers and will expand your skills into the 3rd dimension and beyond.
Private Sessions – Design Your Own Private Papermaking Session
Dates: To be arranged between 9 am to 5 pm each day, Weekdays and weekends are possible, and the cost can be split for two people who work well together.
Private Session Fee: $90 per hour (4-hour minimum) includes use of my studio and equipment and my teaching/consulting services). Materials can be prepared and provided, and a materials fee will be worked out for each participant.
Contact me to design and schedule your own unique session to work in my studio on your next project. Participants must have taken at least one class with me before in order to know how to use the studio and the equipment. This will be a private papermaking session in my studio using the equipment and supplies and pulps that you want to use from my stock, such as abaca, Kozo, cotton blue jean pulp, specific local plant pulps, or others that I can prepare plus any other materials I have or that you want to bring. I will offer advice, encouragement, give suggestions and teach you ways of doing what you want for specific projects that you have in mind. This will be ideal for those who know what they want to achieve but don’t have a studio space or the equipment or the knowledge of specific techniques at this time to work entirely on their own.
Jane Ingram Allen, Burned Map of Middle East, 2006, 24 x 36 inches, handmade abaca fiber paper, acrylic paint and gel, controlled burning using fire retardant, mounted on clear plexiglass
About the Instructor:
Jane Ingram Allen is a multi-media artist who does art projects around the world using hand papermaking with natural materials and collaborative processes to raise public awareness about environmental and social issues. Jane has received numerous awards for artist-in-residencies and community public art projects in the USA, the Philippines, Japan, Nepal, Brazil, China, Tanzania, Taiwan, Turkey, Thailand, Indonesia, Switzerland, England and Costa Rica. She was a Fulbright Scholar artist-in-residence in Taiwan in 2004 and 2005 and a Fulbright Specialist Artist in Turkey in 2015. She received Puffin Foundation Grants in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2022 to support her art installations in New York and MA. She has also received grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Ruth & Harold Chenven Foundation, NYFA, NEA, City of Sacramento, City of Santa Rosa, Creative Sonoma and other organizations around the world to support her work. Jane begins her artwork by making handmade paper from local plant waste and using materials and techniques that contribute to sustainable living and improve the environment. Jane is a former college art instructor and writes about art for SCULPTURE, Fiber Art Now and other art magazines as well as doing independent curating. She is the founder of the Black Sheep Handweavers Guild and active in WEAD, NCWCA, IAPMA and other organizations. She also teaches workshops in papermaking and other arts and has taught classes at Women’s Studio Workshop, Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, Peter’s Valley School of Craft, Brookfield Craft Center, and Morgan Paper Conservatory as well as at colleges and universities, museums and art centers in the US and other countries. Her work is in many public collections including the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA; Tainan Art Museum, Tainan, Taiwan; W. Des Moines City Hall, W. Des Moines, Iowa, ASCAP, New York, NY; Ege University Museum of Paper and Book Arts, Izmir, Turkey; and Fulbright Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan. Since 2012 Jane has been based in Santa Rosa, CA, and continues her work in the US and internationally.
Contact Info:
Jane Ingram Allen, 5017 Maiden Lane, Santa Rosa CA 95409
Long-time West Des Moines residents Jaey and Brenda Sedlacek generously donated this piece from their private collection to enhance the City’s permanent public art collection. Brenda served as a Commissioner on the West Des Moines Public Arts Advisory Board from 2011 to 2023. The Sedlacek family previously contributed the artwork titled “Confluence,” which is displayed in front of City Hall, in 2022.
3 Flags in Space was created by artist Jane Ingram Allen in 1992 and is eight feet wide by three feet deep by 6 feet high. Allen uses all natural and biodegradable materials such as handmade paper she makes from local plant waste materials and seeds to produce continually evolving artworks that transform with nature as a partner.
The Public Arts Advisory Commission endorsed the acceptance of the 3 Flags in Space donation into the City’s permanent public art collection on October 24, 2024, with City Council accepting the donation on November 18, 2024.
The artwork is displayed on the wall of the central staircase at West Des Moines City Hall., W. Des Moines, Iowa.
Jane Ingram Allen, a Fulbright Scholar artist in Taiwan in 2003-04 and 2005-05, announces that the Tainan Art Museum in Tainan, Taiwan, now has 34 of her handmade paper mixed media artworks in their permanent collection. The works were created by Allen during her two years on the Fulbright grant working in 14 different communities all over Taiwan. The Tainan Art Museum will keep the works in their archival storage and have them available for research and exhibitions. Allen hopes that the Tainan Art Museum will have an exhibition of her “Made in Taiwan” works in 2027.
These works are part of an ongoing series of map-based works that Allen calls “site maps.” The “site maps” are a record of her experience of a particular place and time and are made entirely from materials collected in that place. They are based on tourist maps, road maps, historical maps, geological maps and cultural resources that depict the particular characteristics of a place, as well as her personal experience of a place. Each “site map” is made up of multiple sheets of natural plant fiber handmade paper Allen made from local plants and joined with natural fiber string so that the constructions will fold up like maps. These are mixed-media works that use acrylic painting, drawing, collage and other techniques. They are two-sided and hang in space so that viewers can travel around them and look through them to get another view of that particular place.
During this wonderful 3-week National Artist in Residency at Blue Line Arts, Roseville, California, I had a very enjoyable time making some new art with handmade paper using local plant materials as well as presenting an exhibition of handmade paper artworks I created in 2024 and 2025 and teaching a 2-day workshop in making handmade paper from local plants and a Zoom/hybrid workshop on International Opportunities for Artists. I also gave an Artist Talk about my work, and there were several receptions and opportunities to interact with local people and gallery visitors during Open Studio times at the Blue Line Arts Center.
Below are some images of my residency experience at Blue Line Arts taken by my husband Timothy S. Allen, who came with me and documented the residency in Roseville. This residency program has outstanding support for the selected artist, and it was an inspiring and productive time. I highly recommend this residency that is sponsored by the Placer Community Foundation and the Susan Cooley-Gilliom family to bring different artists there each year for the SCG National Artist in Residency and Teaching Program. The next call for artists is available now at this link: https://www.bluelinearts.org/scg-national-2026
All images of my September 2025 residency at Blue Line Arts are by Timothy S. Allen (allentimphotos2.wordpress.com).
Jane and Open Studio visitors in gallery with her exhibition, first week of residency.
Here are more photos from the last week of my SCG Artist in Residency at Blue Line Arts, Roseville, CA.
On Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 13 and 14, 9 participants came for the two-day workshop in hand papermaking from SCG Artist in Residence Jane Ingram Allen at the Blue Line Arts Center in Roseville, CA. The participants prepared plants gathered locally, cooked them in alkaline for three to four hours, washed out the alkaline after cooking, and beat them to a pulp by hand with wooden hammers and then finished the pulp preparation by mixing the fibers and water for a few minutes in a kitchen blender.
The plants we used in this workshop were cattail leaves, white mulberry bark, Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) and Bird of Paradise leaves. We also used some already prepared blue jean pulp (cotton), kozo (paper mulberry) and abaca (a banana leaf relative) dyed orange. The participants learned Jane’s modified Japanese style sheet forming technique and many other techniques for layering and embellishing handmade paper artworks. We couched the newly formed handmade paper sheets onto non-woven interfacing fabric and then hung them to dry outdoors. Here are some photos taken by my husband Timothy S. Allen of the two-day workshop.
The workshop participants were all very creative and enjoyed working together in the wonderful indoor and outdoor studio space available at the Blue Line Arts Center. Jane will be continuing her artist in residency through September 26 and trying some other local plants for hand papermaking and making some new works inspired by her time in Roseville, CA. This week she has a tour group visiting from a local college and Open Studio on Thursday and Fridays from 12 – 2 pm and the Artist’s Talk and Reception on Saturday, Sept. 20, 4-5pm (lecture) and 5-7pm (reception). Check out the website of Blue Line Arts Center for more information about the Susan Cooley Gilliom Artist in Residency and Teaching Program at Blue Line Arts Center: https://www.bluelinearts.org/scg-national-2025
The public is invited to come visit with the artist and see her exhibition during gallery hours Tuesday through Saturdays, 11 am to 5pm. The public is also invited for the Open Studio times and for the lecture and reception. Jane will continue working at the Blue Line Arts Center through Friday, Sept. 26. More photos will be coming soon of this hand papermaking artist in residency.
Jane Ingram Allen Art Projects 