The Jane Series (2019-21)
“And we sat like that knowing with every ounce of confidence that we were making mud pies exactly right.”
Installation Views
The Jane Series | Artspace111, Fort Worth, TX | May 13-June 26, 2021
Series Statement
It was a summer afternoon and we sat cross-legged in the dirt making mud pies. I used pine needles to decorate the top of mine. I don’t remember the details of my cousin’s pie, I only remember that she was happily chattering away about important kid things. And we sat like that knowing with every ounce of confidence that we were making mud pies exactly right.
The Jane Series is a body of work inspired by the pure joy and freedom in which those little girls created with abandon. It is about reclaiming the courage to make by looking inward instead of accepting the expectations of worth and success that we are inundated with on a daily basis. It is reconfiguring the massive amounts of information our society feeds us into something simple and orderly.
Jane is a common name in my small family. I share it as a middle name with my fellow mud-pie-making cousin, maternal grandmother, mother, and daughter. It was the first name of my paternal grandmother. It is a compact name that I associate with simplicity and kindness – much like the uncomplicated, confident actions of two children playing. Other fond female names title each painting as an homage to the authors and heroines of my favorite childhood books.