Jane Herrick

I am a practicing studio artist living on the south shore of Lake Superior in Wisconsin and in the Catalina foothills of Tucson, AZ. I explore various materials and techniques in my fiber, painting, and mixed-media artworks to express meaning and emotion. Experimentation plays a big role in my personal approach to art; it is through experimentation that I begin each piece. Many times, I combine a variety of techniques and materials to arrive at unique conceptual works. Whether it’s found objects from the natural environment or man-made, my goal is to allow the piece to develop given the characteristics of the materials and the influences from my environment. I must give up total control of any former or preconceived ideas, old habits, or new successes. Only then do the materials, the form, and the ideas from my surroundings take charge and become what they will to create unusual introspective structures, mixed media collages, or paintings. When this happens, I become aware of something different in the work . . . something that I had not seen before. This is exciting and refreshing, and to me it is the essence of creativity. I earned my undergraduate degree in Art Education at Michigan State University and a graduate degree in Textile and Design at the University of Iowa. I retired from teaching in the Department of Art & Design at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. I show my work in selected regional, national, and international exhibitions.