BIO

Jane Ingram Allen is an installation artist who does art projects around the world using hand papermaking with natural materials and collaborative processes to raise public awareness about environmental 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 and Indonesia.  She was a Fulbright Scholar artist-in-residence in Taiwan in 2004 and 2005 and a Fulbright Specialist in Turkey in 2015.  She received Puffin Foundation Grants in 2003, 2007, 2011 to support her art installations  in New York and MA. She has also received grants from the Chenven Foundation, City of Sacramento, City of Santa Rosa, and other organizations around the world to support her work.   For her artworks Jane begins by making handmade paper from local plant waste and uses materials and techniques that contribute to sustainable living and improve the environment.  Jane is a former college art instructor and currently writes about art for SCULPTURE and other art magazines as well as doing independent curating.  Since 2012 she has been based in Santa Rosa, CA, and continues her work in the US and internationally.

ARTIST STATEMENT – Jane Ingram Allen

My art aims to foster public awareness of environmental issues, with collaborative and participatory processes in mixed media multi-part installations. I use all natural and biodegradable materials such as handmade paper I make from local plant waste materials and seeds to produce continually evolving artworks that transform with nature as a partner. In my recent “Living Quilts” outdoor installations, the handmade paper dissolves over time becoming compost to nourish the earth, and the seeds sprout and grow to produce food and habitat for wildlife as well as aesthetic experiences for humans. The sculptural structures with my living, growing installations are made of wood and branches and last well for many years, and the artworks continue to change and evolve with time.  These works comment on our vain hope for permanency in art and our desire to conquer nature rather than exist in harmony with the earth.  With recent projects I am focusing on water and our current climate crisis, bringing attention to our dire circumstances, with too little water and too much water, and projecting hope for a better future.