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Jane was born in 1951 and grew up in the New York metropolitan area. She studied at Eastern Michigan University, The School of Visual Arts and received a B.A. from Livingston College at Rutgers University. Her supplemental education was in the form of an apprenticeship to jeweler Paul Gollhardt, enameling with Bill Helwig, and jewelry workshops with Chuck Evans, Rick Marshall, Marci Zelmanoff and Mary Ann Scheer. She studied painting at the Montclair Art Museum and had five years of pastel portraiture at the Yard School of Art under Margaret Yard Tyler. From 1975-1977 she ran the wax production and setup room for the jewelry casting firm of Century Casting in New York City. She has been producing her own line of jewelry from 1975 till the present. In 1990 she pursued her long admiration for rustic motifs and began making furniture, frames and accessories. She continues to paint in pastels and add to her jewelry line.

INFORMATION

Rustic Frames and Accessories
“My rustic frames use all kinds of bark and twigs from northern woodland trees as well as hardwood veneers. I use the inner and outer layers of the different barks for their incredible colors. The use of all the different subtle shades is very much like painting. The nature of the materials leads me to do very different things, sometimes landscape pieces, sometimes very wild frames, or often very controlled, geometric designs.” Each piece is a one of a kind.


Pastels
“My pastel landscapes are of some place and time that is exceptionally beautiful. I try to capture a moment when I see some breathtaking place with incredible light, to freeze it and hold it and have it for later.”

To further illustrate just what pastels are we turn to the Pastel Society of America:

Pastel is pure pigment, the same pigment used in making fine paint. It is the most permanent of all media, when applied to conservation ground and properly framed. Pastel has no liquid binder that may cause other media to darken, fade, yellow, crack or blister with time. Pastels from the 16th century exist today, as fresh as the day they were painted.

Pastel does not at all refer to pale colors, as the word is commonly used today. The name Pastel comes from the French word "pastiche" because the pure powdered pigment is ground into a paste, with a small amount of gum binder, and then rolled into sticks. Pastel should never be confused with colored chalk. Chalk is a limestone impregnated with dyes. The infinite variety of colors in the Pastel palette range from soft and subtle to bold and brilliant.

An artwork is created by stroking the sticks of dry pigment across an abrasive ground, embedding the color in the "tooth" of the paper, sand board or canvas. If the ground is completely covered with Pastel the work is considered a Pastel painting; leaving much of the ground exposed produces a Pastel sketch. Many artists favor the medium because it allows a spontaneous approach. There is no drying time, and no allowances to be made for a change in color due to drying.


About the Jewelry

“My jewelry is like wearing tiny sculptures. I have always been interested in very finely detailed work and have tried for that in my jewelry. The basis of the pieces is lost wax. I often will work the pieces further to incorporate stones and pearls. The addition of pearls, opals, diamonds and semi-precious stones help the pieces to come alive with color.”


Lost Wax Casting

Casting is one of the oldest art crafts. Prehistoric implements originally made in stone eventually were cast in metal. The most primitive methods were used, growing in sophistication as time passed. Eventually the art of lost wax casting became very refined. Jewelers and sculptors could accomplish works of the most amazing and intricate detail. Newer methods and better machines have made it possible for all kinds of people to produce work by this process.

1. An original piece is created in wax.
2. The wax is placed in an open ended flask and filled with a plaster mixture that becomes water soluble when heated.
3. The flask is placed in a burnout oven. It is heated until the wax is burned away leaving a negative space in the flask.
4. Molten metal is poured into the hot flask and left to cool.
5. The flask is immersed in water and the plaster is melted away, leaving the rough casting.
6. This original casting may either be finished as a one of a kind or touched up and have a mold made of it so that it can be reproduced as a production piece.
7. The molds are made of Vulcanized rubber. They are created using heat and pressure.
8. When the molds are cool, they are cut open. The original metal casting is removed leaving another negative space.
9. Molten wax is injected into the mold.
10. The cooled pieces of wax are reassembled and the casting process is repeated.