Jane Michalski
Chicago, IL
Jane Michalski is a versatile artist working in pastel, oil, and mixed media, and for the past ten years, the medium of encaustic.
MessageJane Michalski is a versatile artist primarily working in the medium of encaustic. In her current work, Jane explores this versatile medium; incorporating silk screen elements, ink jet prints and using personal photographs as sources for abstraction.
Jane has exhibited in the Chicago area, and in regional and national exhibitions, including solo shows at the Union League Club of Chicago and the South Shore Arts Crown Point, Indiana Gallery. Her paintings are included in many private collections and have received several awards, most recently she received an Honorable Mention award at the Bridgeport Arts Center annual competition. She has received grants from the City of Chicago and the Illinois Arts Council. In addition to her studio work, Jane is currently the president of FUSEDChicago an organization for artists working in the medium of encaustic. She is a former board member of the Logan Square Chamber of the Arts and produced and curated exhibitions for The Hairpin Arts Center. Her education includes a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MA degree from the University of Illinois.
Statement
I have drawn the source of some of my ideas from photographs that connect me to time and natural history. Along the shores of Lake Michigan and near my Mother’s house in Wisconsin, is an out cropping of Devonian Limestone called North Point. It is a place that I often visit and I love the way that its appearance changes depending on the time of year and the rise and fall of the lake water. Pools of water with colored algae and cracks in the stone create different patterns. In some places the limestone drops off sharply into the darker waters of the lake. I take photographs looking down and along the shore line. Sometimes I look at the photographs as inspiration for color and form and have created several paintings based on what I see using multiple layers of transparent wax. Other photographs are manipulated and printed on to rice paper that is collaged onto paper or panels with encaustic medium. I then create an abstract image over the printed elements.
I love the way that abstraction can give meaning to thoughts or feelings that cannot be expressed in words. I know that this experience is different for each person looking at the art. For me, as I have worked on this series, I have discovered more personal meaning in my fascination with North Point. The water’s edge has become a powerful metaphor for the many journeys taken through life, and following the death of my father in 2015, a metaphor for the final journey into the unknown. Looking down at the ancient surface of the bedrock and the water of Lake Michigan, I contemplate both the past and the future.
Recently, I have expanded my source of images to include photographs taken by my nephew, Jordan Lubbers, a geologist. As part of his studies, he has taken CL Electron microscope images of the interior of quartz crystals. With his permission I have used his photographs as the basis for the Microstructure series, incorporating the unique beauty of the unseen structure of the stone into my abstractions.
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