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!
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.
Collaborating Artists Jane Ingram Allen and Jami Taback will present the 6th exhibition of their “In Deep Water” project at Delaware Valley Arts Alliance Gallery, Narrowsburg, NY, June 28 – August 3, 2025.
Jane Ingram Allen and Jami Taback began this work together in 2020 to express their concern about the growing environmental crisis relating to climate change and water, the most essential element for life. “In Deep Water” has been presented at 3 different venues in Northern California and one in New Jersey and also in Taiwan, with new versions and more panels added at each place to make it site specific The “In Deep Water – Confluence” art installation will consist of 27 panels of handmade paper and printmaking with controlled burning that are joined by threads and suspended in space to surround the viewer in a blue watery world where rivers come together, symbolically representing the hope that the world can all come together to preserve the environment and deal with climate change. The presentation in Narrowsburg, NY, will be designed for the DVAA gallery located in the downtown area along the banks of the Delaware River, and the exhibition is happening at the same time as the community’s annual Riverfest celebration of the Delaware River.
Jane Ingram Allen and Jami Taback, “In Deep Water – Rising”, Gallery Route One, Pt. Reyes Station, CA, 2022Jane Ingram Allen and Jami Taback, “In Deep Water – We’re in This Together – Taiwan”, 2023-24Jane Ingram Allen and Jami Taback installing “In Deep Water” at Sonoma Community Center, Sonoma, CA, in January 2022.
Summer art activities include making handmade paper outdoors on my patio and assembling things indoors in my garage studio in Santa Rosa, CA, for upcoming exhibitions and public art projects.
I have been selected for Sonoma Creates Art Surround (https://www.creativesonoma.org/artsurround/) a new public art program that will partner artists with organizations in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County, CA, to create new site-specific artworks in public spaces working with the community. The project offers grants of $1000 to $10,000 to each of the selected artists to do one or more public art projects during the months of July to December of 2022. I should know in a few weeks what organizations I will be working with and where my installations will be sited. I hope to do more eco art installations with handmade paper and seeds in the pulp to change over time and work in harmony with nature. Here is a photos of my installation last year in Steckborn, Switzerland, titled “Living Quilt for Steckborn”.
Jane Ingram Allen, Living Quilt for Steckborn, installed in April 2021 and starting to transform, 8 feet x 10 feet x 1 foot, sponsored by Haus zur Glocke https://www.hauszurglocke.ch/home, Steckborn, Switzerland, handmade paper pulp, dye, seeds for wildflowers, soil, boards.Jane Ingram Allen, Living Quilt for Steckborn, blooming in September 2021, 8 feet x 10 feet x 1 foot, handmade paper, dye, seeds for wildflowers soil, boards, installed in April 2021, organized by Haus zur Glocke and city of Steckborn, Steckborn, Switzerland.
Check back here soon for updates about the art installations I will be doing in Santa Rosa, California, and Sonoma County, California during the coming months.
Summer Workshops with Jane Ingram Allen in Oregon
Jane’s “Papermaking Around the World” workshops this summer at Sitka Center for Art & Ecology are both full. One session will be August 7 and 8, and another session will be August 9 and 10 at Sitka Center in Otis, Oregon, on the beautiful central Oregon coast. For more information about the programs at Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, see the website at http://www.sitkacenter.org
During these “Papermaking Around the World” workshops participants will be learning to make handmade paper using materials, equipment and techniques from countries around the world, such as Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Tanzania, Indonesia, Brazil, Nepal and Turkey…all countries where Jane has been an artist in residence. Jane will be teaching more papermaking art workshops in her Santa Rosa, CA, studio during the Fall of 2022. Email her to be put on the email list for workshops and classes in hand papermaking: info@janeingramallen
Continuing work on Collaborative Art Project “In Deep Water“
Jane is continuing to work with printmaker Jami Taback on their “In Deep Water” Project. The installation of “In Deep Water” at Rowan University, Discovery Hall, Glassboro, NJ, is coming down at the end of August 2022. Here is a photo of one part of the multiple panels being created for this installation. Jane and Jami will be creating more handmade paper and printmaking panels for this ongoing installation art project about climate change and water.
Detail of “In Deep Water” panel, one sheet 18″ x 12″, handmade paper, dye, printmaking, ink
The next exhibition of “In Deep Water” will be Oct. 8 – Nov. 10, 2022, at Gallery Route One Project Space, Point Reyes Station, CA. http://www.galleryrouteone.org
My outdoor art installation in Steckborn, Switzerland titled “Living Quilt for Steckborn” is now blooming well with many red poppies. I created this artwork in my California studio and shipped it to Switzerland for installation in April 2021. The artwork has a handmade paper quilt in the “Peaks and Valleys” pattern with seeds for wildflowers in the pulp to grow and change over time. The installation has grown well thanks to the good care from the staff at Haus zur Glocke, an art center in Steckborn, Switzerland. This project was done with the cooperation of Haus zur Glocke Curator Judi Villiger and the city of Steckborn and installed by volunteers. I participates in the April installation by Internet because travel was not possible during the pandemic.
This photo shows the Living Quilt for Steckborn installation blooming on July 10, 2021. The photo was sent to me by Judit Villiger, Director and Curator at Haus zur Glocke. There are so many red poppies now, and I hope we can see some more yellow, white and blue wildflowers soon. I also put another photo here of how the “quilt” looked when it was installed in Steckborn back in April. “Living Quilt for Steckborn” remains on view in Steckborn, Switzerland, and you can also see some of my other living quilt installations blooming now in Sacramento, California at Sojourner Truth Park, and in Santa Rosa, California, at Rincon Ridge Park.
This photo shows the huge mulberry tree in my front yard that I have used for my hand papermaking art during the pandemic.
Large Mulberry tree used for papermaking located in my front yard, Santa Rosa, California
I was invited for this international forum as a result of being selected for an invited artist-in-residency project at Cour Commune (www.courcommune.org). My residency at Cour Commune in Voulx, is now planned for Spring 2021. I will post more information here soon about my residency in France next year.
I also wanted to let everyone know that my home and studio in Santa Rosa, CA, are okay for now. We are located in an evacuation warning zone for the current wildfires in Sonoma County that affected the northeast section of Santa Rosa. My family and I are all fine, and we are watching the news updates carefully and remain packed and ready to evacuate again if needed. The smoke and ash from the nearby fires make the air outside unsafe and hazardous, and we are staying indoors for now.
I am able to work indoors on art for my upcoming projects in November. My exhibition at Haus zur Glocke in Steckborn, Switzerland (www.hauszurglocke.ch) opens on November 25, 2020. I am creating a “Lake Constance Site Map” now with internet resources and a few things that artist friends in Switzerland, Germany and Austria have mailed to me here in California. Lake Constance is a large lake in Europe that lies between Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Here is a photo of my Lake Constance handmade paper artwork in progress:
Lake Constance Site Map (in progress)
I will post more about the exhibition at Haus zur Glocke and my “Lake Constance Site Map” soon. The exhibition at Haus ur Glocke titled “Labor-Natur” will feature artworks by 3 artists who use nature as a laboratory to create their art. I will be showing a selection of my handmade paper site maps that are created from plant materials collected at each site. The Lake Constance Site Map is the first one I have made remotely since I was not able to go to Switzerland this year because of the pandemic.
I will also be working in my Santa Rosa studio during October and November to create another “living quilt” installation for the City of Sacramento’s artist in residency program. I will be making some live Zoom programs to show how the handmade paper quilt with seeds for wildflowers in the pulp is designed and made. I will go to Sacramento for one week in November to install my art project “Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth” at Sojourner Truth Community Garden in the Pocket-Greenhaven area of Sacramento, California.
This photo shows one square of the “Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth”.
one quilt square for my “Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth” installation in Sacramento, CA
I am using the North Star quilt pattern to refer to how quilts may have been used to show escaping slaves the direction north to freedom. Sojourner Truth was a former slave and famous as a leader in the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements. Keep watching this Blog to see more about my public art project in Sacramento.
Wishing everyone good health and good air to breathe!
My sculpture installation in Sacramento about the issue of gun violence has completely transformed, and the handmade paper “guns” with seeds for wildflowers in the paper pulp have grown into a living bloom flower bed. The wildflowers that are blooming now in the installation are white cosmos, blue bachelor buttons, Baby’s breath, white linen poppies, and a few red wildflowers including some red poppies and scarlet flax. The white cosmos flowers are really dominating the space now, but the green foliage of this wildflower is very beautiful and almost fern-like. The headboard and footboard we constructed from local branches still seems quite strong. The weather in Sacramento has been cooperative this Spring with some rain, but hot sunny days are expected in the months ahead. Several days it has already been over 100 degrees F.
This installation was done during an artist in residency at Natomas Charter School Academy of Performing and Fine Arts, in Sacramento, from Feb. 25 to March 16, 2019. Art students at the school helped to make the handmade paper quilt and install it on March 16, 2019. The installation is on view for the public at South Natomas Community Center Park in the “poet’s park area. These photos of the transformation were taken by my husband Timothy S. Allen (allentimohotos2.wordpress.com) on June 15, 2019, during a recent visit to Sacramento. These photos show my “Guns into Flowers” installation on March 16, 2019, when it was installed.
Keep watching this Blog for updated photos and more news about this art project as it continues to change over time.
My “Living Quilt for Santa Rosa” public art installation with handmade paper and seeds for wildflowers in the pulp continues to change over time since it was installed on November 25, 2018, at Rincon Ridge Park in the Fountaingrove area of Santa Rosa. This project was one of four projects awarded a grant from the City of Santa Rosa public art department during the first round of Calls for Fire Response public art projects. This installation was created with the participation of local volunteers, and it is bringing new life to this area of Santa Rosa that was devastated by the wildfires of October 2017. The wildflowers should continue to grow, and hopefully they will bloom in a few weeks. The weather has been sunny and warm, and many trees and flowers are already starting to bloom in Santa Rosa, CA.
These photos show the art installation on January 28, 2019. Some wildflowers are about 4 – 6 inches tall now!
Jane Ingram Allen’s latest public art installation is now on view at Rincon Ridge Park in Santa Rosa, CA. You can come to the Park at any time over the next 6 months to see the progress and how nature transforms the artwork. The public art project “Living Quilt for Santa Rosa” was installed yesterday, Nov. 25, on a beautiful Fall day of bright sunshine and clean fresh air at a city park in the Fountaingrove area that was severely affected by the October 2017 wildfires in Santa Rosa. Many people helped with the installation and participated in decorating the headboard and footboard with colorful flowers and leaves brought by volunteers. Tara Thompson, art coordinator for the City of Santa Rosa, made an introductory presentation about the City’s public art “fire response” program and introduced the artist for this project. Then, Jane lead volunteers and community people in laying out the handmade paper quilt with seeds for wildflowers in the pulp and having the same colors and patterns. Jane used the “flying geese” traditional quilt pattern for this handmade paper quilt that was formed in strips to cover the 8 foot x 10 foot raised bed filled with soil. A group of sketchers were also there at the installation to record this public art project. Here is the website about the fire response sketching group in northern California: (https://sketchingclimatestories.com/index.php/sketching-fire-stories/
After the “Living Quilt for Santa Rosa” was all installed and staked down with wooden skewers that had a cork attached at the top, Jane and volunteers watered the quilt with a pump sprayer since there is still no water available at the site after hose connections and water lines were damaged by the wildfires in the area last October. The City is working hard to restore water in the Park, and several houses in the area are being rebuilt after the fires. It is hoped that this artwork will bring healing and new life with colorful wildflowers to this devastated area.
Here are some photos of the installation ceremony on November 25. The photos were taken by Timothy S. Allen, and you can see more of his photos at https://allentimphotos2.wordpress.com
Please continue to watch this Blog for more photos of the public art installation as rains come, and the seeds in the handmade paper quilt start to sprout and grow over the coming months. We are all thankful that rain is predicted for later this week in Santa Rosa. Thank you again to all those who volunteered to help with this art project by making handmade paper for the quilt and building the headboard and footboard for the “flower bed.”
Jane Ingram Allen Art Projects 
