Jane Burke

I come from a long line of creative women. My grandmother carved animals out of soap and both grandmothers were excellent seamstresses. My mother did beautiful handiwork, which at the time seemed boring and old-fashioned to me. Now, I wish I could duplicate the precision of those stitches! She also was an ardent collector of a range of artwork. Like my mother and grandmothers before me, I always dabbled in some sort of creative outlet, decoupaging lunch boxes in the 60’s, pouring psychedelic looking sand paintings in the 70’s, creating fabric flowers or knitting grandchildren’s sweaters, to name a few. I feel privileged that my family loved and collected art and exposed me early on to the works of great artists. Painting allows me to express and discover my inner self with every new canvas and I feel grateful every time I pick up a paintbrush.

When I was a child, our home was colorful, boasting a red wall in our living room and Asian rugs that displayed luscious shades of chartreuse and vibrant reds. I love vibrant colors and mixing colors and patterns, often gravitating toward mixed media materials, sometimes making my own papers to add to the collage, adding charcoal line work or adding a splash of oils to enhance and pop the colors.

Hailing from New York, it took me by surprise that pigs, cows, barns, florals (non realistic often whimsical ones seem to pop out of my brain) and country charms abound and seem to appear effortlessly in my work. I guess you can take the girl out of the City! My work is happy and hopefully shares the joy I feel while creating.