JANE SHIRKES
ABOUT
ARTIST STATEMENT
Jane is a working artist who is inspired by organic and mystical shape, substance and spirit. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University, and receiving a Masters from the University of Pittsburgh, she started a business called Tales in Tile, played dulcimer in the Run of the Mill String Band, turned a chicken coop near the Russian River in Northern California into a living/work space and eventually moved to Los Angeles to become a set decorator in film and TV.
For many years I have been drawn to apis culture. In ancient times, the honeybee was worshipped and sustained by the Melissae, the sacred beekeepers, whose mysteries continue to be practiced today.
I am interested in the ancient form of knowledge and reimagining those ideas in the present.
In my work, I use beeswax to encase the sewn and crocheted sculptures, sometimes framing them on embroidery hoops, to call forth the handiwork of women.
Building shapes with waxy layers of tiny hexagons, I evoke the beehive that is the mind. To make a greater space for the sacred in myself, I listen for the hum of life in every stitch. And travel far into the cosmos and beyond.
Photo by Maria Loewenstein © 2018