Artist Feature: Jane Durham
If you know me, you know I love art. I have pretty distinct taste in art and I know what I like. Awhile ago I stumbled upon a painting that stopped me in my tracks. I set out to find out who the artist was. And thus I found Jane Durham on Instagram. I love here work.
Her style feels impressionistic and antique yet somehow fresh and modern. I reached out to Jane a few months ago about letting me feature her (and then immediately had a baby thereafter) so I’m excited to finally be sharing her work with you!
What is your name or shop or website? Where can people find/buy your art? I post my paintings for sale on my Instagram account (@janedurham_art) and would like to start a website, but don't currently have enough paintings to do that! Someday...
What inspires you? All beauty inspires me. There is so much to love in this world. I was taught a joie de vivre by my parents, who I think lived a very deliberate, full life. I love culture, language, food, all music genres, dance, and literature. But the obvious inspiration for all my pieces is the beauty of nature. I grew up camping and backpacking from a very young age, and have always spent a lot of time outdoors. I am completely in awe of light and color and nowhere is it so majestic as out in nature.
One of my early jobs was being a wilderness counselor in 650 square miles of wilderness on the Utah/Nevada border. I lived outdoors for the summer, 8 days on, 8 days off. It was a barren landscape, but I saw so much beauty, and loved every minute of living outside. Whenever I'm in Central/Southern Utah, I want to paint everything. I love seeing beauty in landscapes that are not typically thought to be beautiful.
Are there any pieces that have specific meaning to you? Because I mostly paint landscapes, I don't ascribe a lot of meaning to my paintings. But I do feel that places are tremendously meaningful, and they certainly are in my life. Those places where I have lots of happy memories are the ones I keep painting over and over.
Any background information you think is interesting about you or your work? From a young age, I actually wanted to design dresses, landscapes or interiors. I never thought I'd be an artist! I also never really intended to try to sell my paintings. I tried a couple times early on, but got absolutely no response.
When we recently moved to our first really permanent home, I unpacked boxes and boxes of paintings and wanted to let them go. So I posted them on Instagram. I got out my paints to sign some and finish some, and because our basement was unfinished, I had a safe place where I could just leave my paints out.
Oils can be somewhat toxic and I have 4 small children, so being able to leave them out and lock the door made it easier to get down there and paint for short, unplanned periods.
What is your art background? How did you get into it? Do you have formal training? What's your medium? It seems like I was always in some kind of casual art class as a child, thanks to my mom. She always praised my creativity, which she didn't think she saw in herself. So she was consciously trying to develop that in me.
In High School, I started taking drawing, watercolor and figure drawing at Peterson Art Center in Salt Lake City. I then began a degree in Art at the University of Utah, but after being moved to tears while in a Shakespeare class, I changed my major to English Literature. This was also because of the stress I felt of making a career in art by getting into galleries and not feeling like I was good enough.
One day, I was lamenting missing art to a friend and she mentioned to me that some former U of U art professors were teaching workshops in Helper, Utah. I jumped on the opportunity and took as many of the workshops as I could. I remember I even slept in my van and ate corn out of a can so I could attend these workshops! I'm so thankful for all I learned and experienced then. At the Helper workshops I studied with David Dornan, Tony Smith, and others, but Paul Davis taught me everything I know. Helper workshops is where I first tried oils, and I have really not done any other medium since.
A place where you can see some of my work installed is at The Snowpine Lodge in Alta, Utah. I have 5 mural-sized paintings there and it was a dream come true to have that opportunity!
A huge thank you to Jane for sharing your art and your story with me!