“Painting is a conduit of energy. Painting is a verb not a product.”

~Jane Sleeper

Before Jane paints, she meditates.

She focuses on whatever presents itself, not on the painting to come. Similar to Tai Chi, there is an invitation, receiving, intention, and release to canvas. Painting becomes an active state of listening - sensing color, line, and horizon. She plays with paint as paint, not trying to make paint something its not.

Education

  • B.F.A., Plymouth University 1989

  • M.F.A, Pratt Institute 1992

  • L.M.T., Swedish Institute 1993

  • Graduate, IM School of Healing Arts 1996

Workshops and Residencies

  • Triangle Artist Workshop, Pine Plains NY 1993

  • Yaddo Residency, Saratoga Springs NY 1994

Private Collections

  • Kressy, NH

  • Bezanson, NJ

  • Mourmouras, ME

  • Kraujalis, NC

Jane has considered herself an artist for most of her life.

She grew up in New Jersey and spent summers in Maine in her family’s home on the coast. She followed her B.F.A with a Masters in Fine Arts from the Pratt Institute in New York City where she was featured in several solo and group shows. While in the city, she also studied at the Swedish Institute and IM School of Healing Arts, gaining her license in massage therapy. This interest brought her to visit Turkey several times where she gained inspiration for her art.

Shortly after graduating, Jane took 20 years away from the studio to focus on raising her children, practice body work, and the ancient art of Henna. During this time there was a house fire destroying 10 years of her paintings and slide documentation. Now she finds herself in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina with her dog Scout, back in the studio with a renewed focus on painting.

“Ms. Sleeper’s strong and muted colors shine and bubble. It is a dance between the flowing organic tracery and the more subdued patched geometric structures that encourage the eye to shift focus from plane to plane. This brings the subconscious to alight on the image with a visual meditation of a new, deeper realm. Jane’s work starts with the dream of form and ends in magic.”

— William Jaros, artist and architect