JANE ROSENs e c o n d n a t u r e14 july - 23 august 2011
TAYLOE PIGGOTT GALLERY
62 SOUTH GLENWOOD ST PO BOX 1435
JACKSON WY 83001 TEL 307 733 0555
WWW.TAYLOEPIGGOTTGALLERY.COM
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PREFACE
“When you see a fish, you do not think of its scales do you? You think
of its speed, its floating, flashing body seen through the water…. Well,
I’ve tried to express just that. If I made fins and eyes and scales, I would
arrest its movement and hold you by a pattern or a shape of reality. I
want just the flash of its spirit.”
-Brancusi
Spending time at Jane Rosen’s studio was like witnessing the flash of
spirit that Brancusi sought to capture. Such a philosophy of seeing
is very close to my heart. With this perspective framing my vision
I capture the profound essence of nature and art seen through the
animal life. It was our reciprocal vision of the life force that instinctually
and immediately connected me to Jane’s work. Her art, whether bird,
fish or fowl, resonates with the fundamentality of the being’s spirit. The
word “essence” is defined as “the permanent as contrasted with the
temporary element of being.” Her sculpture is essence.
Thank you Jane for changing the way I see.
- Tayloe Piggott
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SECOND NATURE
The hawks perch in a tall tree. A tree that grows and changes each
time they land in it, build a nest in it, perch on it balancing in the wind.
In the late afternoon, they are illuminated in such a way that they both
blend into this tree and appear translucent simultaneously, much like
the branches of the tree that are illuminated in this late afternoon light.
How extraordinary that I was given the opportunity to learn about
glass, that the sandblasted pigmented glass birds are illuminated in
the same way that the birds I cohabit with appear to be. That the recy-
cled provencal stone seems like an eternal beam of light, much like the
streams of light that filter through the clerestories in the studio. The
light passing through the studio taught me to adapt to a new way of
working. I learned to work with the light as teacher, rather than trying
to control the lighting conditions. Wouldn’t it be grand if we were that
responsive to the changes that one’s life brings our way. What aging
can say about youth, what light can say about darkness, what animals
can guide us towards if we listen. What if this knowledge were in fact
second nature to us. We are, in fact, composed of two natures, which
seems to me so much like the passage in the Upanishads.
- Jane Rosen
Like two golden birds perchedon the selfsame tree, intimate friends, the ego and the Selfdwell in the same body. The former eats the sweet and sourfruits of the tree of l ife, whilethe latter look s on in detachment.
-The Mundaka Upanishad
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EXCERPT
Jane Rosen: It’s a hard word for me, “seeing,” because I’m firmly
convinced that seeing has nothing to do with the eyes in that way. I’m
not saying it doesn’t include the eyes. An impression comes in. It may
come in through the eyes. When I’m looking at a bird or an animal,
especially when I’m drawing it, the key is the shift in cognition where—
and I know when it happens, I can sense it.
Richard Whittaker: Are you talking about drawing?
JR: I’m talking about life. When we talk about taking in an impression,
most of the time I’m not taking you in, I’m trying to make an impression
on you. I’m going out. And there’s a shift that happens when I’m drawing
or when I’m looking at the dog or a horse or looking at someone in my
mind’s eye, there’s a shift where something in me listens, but not with
my ears. There’s another kind of listening. It’s kind of like from the
knees up to the shoulders is like a receiver or a satellite dish allowing
something to come in almost through my middle. It could be seeing
who someone is.
RW: Well, I wanted to go back to where you mentioned earlier
something about this bar of light that falls into your studio. Now you
said that this bar of light has…
JR: It changed my life. I always had studios where there were no
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bars of light coming in because that kind of light changes everything,
completely washing out the pieces. And at first, I was very upset with
the lighting.
RW: Right. There’s a huge contrast between the shadow and the
direct sunlight.
JR: All day from dawn until dusk you get extremes of light bouncing
all over and it was interfering. Then, just sitting in this chair day after
day, week after week—I never did free-standing, vertical pieces like this
before; my hawks were all low to the ground, like the Egyptian wing
piece—but what started to happen was I started to listen to the light.
I started to catch the light at various moments where the light would
inform what the height of the piece needed to be, or the turn of the
head. I started seeing the light as a help rather than trying to control it.
Being in relation to the light was a big thing!
The other thing is that I’m very involved with vertical and horizontal
movement, a movement in and out and a movement up and down. An
inner emotional stance is an outer visual one. If you get nervous, for
example, all the energy seems to go up. Your jaw tightens and your
eyes scrunch and you hold your breath up high.
So there’s this movement of going out to the piece, like if you
shot an arrow out to the piece. You’re looking at it, but there is also a
filtering back so that you’re also aware of yourself and the piece. So
that’s a movement in and out. And the movement up and down, I start
to wonder, isn’t this a cross? These pieces become representations of
a seeing both in and out. And the light, which I resisted enormously,
became the teacher.
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RW: Can we call that seeing?
JR: Yes. That’s another form of seeing. But when I talked about the
conference, it’s that more than one part of you needs to see. You can’t
see with your head alone. You can’t see with your heart alone, because
it’s very partial. You can’t see with your body alone because basically,
I don’t want to put down the cigarette or the cake.
The day I met that raven you were asking about, this is what
happened. I heard the dogs barking in the living room. Not a bark like
“someone is here,” which is an announcement. Not a bark like “get
away from my stuff.” That’s a territorial thing. Not a bark of fear like,
“Oh, my God there’s a bobcat on the deck!” It was a bark I wasn’t used
to, a kind of “What are you doing?”
I walked into the living room and there was the raven underneath
the chair at the dining room table. I looked at this big raven with huge
claws and this huge Roman beak. The raven somehow had walked
into the house before we had become friends and had gotten stuck
underneath the chair. I believe it was a mom and she was coming in
looking for food.
I looked at the raven and the raven looked at me. She had these
beautiful eyes and she blinked at me. It was clear she said to me, “I’m
stuck. I don’t know how I got under this chair. I can’t get out and you’ve
got two pretty big dogs. I’m in a situation here.”
So I looked at the raven and said, “Okay. Here’s the deal. You’re big.
You have sharp claws and this beak. You could hurt me. I’m going to
pet your back and if you don’t try to peck me or claw me, I will get
you out from under the chair. If you try to peck me or claw me, you’re
on your own.”
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She looked at me, cocking her head like she was thinking about it. It
wasn’t like she understood my words or I understood hers. There was
something in my tone that was explaining to her, in the same way there
was something in your inner tone explaining to the dog that you were
about to make a move. He was watching in an instinctive way what you
were conjuring. And was just waiting for your signal. He had it worked
out long before you did.
So I pet the back of the raven and not only does she not claw me,
she pulls her claws into her belly and tucks her beak into her chest.
I pick her up and I hold her like this [cradled in her arms] and she is
perfectly still. I put her out on the picnic table figuring she would make
a beeline out of there. She turned around, she looked at me and she
nodded.
Excerpted from an Interview by Richard Whittaker
‘Seeing’ published in Parabola Magazine, August 2011
GLASS WOOD STONE
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Prairie Falcon, 2011
Hand blown pigmented glass,
limestone and recycled redwood
58 x 12 x 13 inches
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Prairie Falcon, (Detail) 2011
Hand blown pigmented glass,
limestone and recycled redwood
58 x 12 x 13 inches
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Grey White Column (Left), 2011
Hand blown glass and limestone
90 x 9 x 17 inches
Grey White Column (Right), 2011
Hand blown glass and limestone
90 x 8 x 17 inches
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Grey White Column Left (Detail), 2011
Hand blown glass and limestone
90 x 8 x 17 inches
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Red Shouldered Hawk, 2011
Hand blown pigmented glass,
limestone and recycled redwood
70 x 12 x 12 inches
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Red Shouldered Hawk, (Detail) 2011
Hand blown pigmented glass,
limestone and recycled redwood
70 x 12 x 12 inches
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Artist’s Studio
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Dallas Bird, 2010
Limestone and pigment
63 x 12 x 7 inches
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Dallas Bird, (Detail) 2010
Limestone and pigment
63 x 12 x 7 inches
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Italian Twins (installed), 2011
Pigmented provencal limestone
56 x 27 x 14 inches (installed dimensions)
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Striped Bird, 2011
Hand blown pigmented glass
15 x 4 x 4 inches
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Pale Male, 2011
Hand blown pigmented glass
and pigmented limestone
71 x 10 x 20 inches
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Pale Male (Detail), 2011
Hand blown pigmented glass
and pigmented limestone
71 x 10 x 20 inches
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JANE ROSEN
Born New York, NY 1950
B.A. New York University 1972
Art Students League 1975
ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2011 Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson, WY, Second Nature
Braunstein-Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Wild Life
2010 Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY A Class of Birds
2009 JH Muse Gallery, Jackson, Wyoming, New and Selected Works
Gail Severn Gallery, Sun Valley, ID, Summer Bird
2008 Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA, Posted Turning
Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Gamut
2007 Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY, Mei Mei Series
Gwenda Jay / Addington Gallery, Chicago, IL, Re:incarnations.
2006 Friesen Gallery, Seattle, WA, Tracking
2005 Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, ID, Wheel of Nature
2004 Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Coastal Influence
2003 Alpan Gallery, Huntington, NY
2002 Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY, Small Scale
1998 Byron Cohen Gallery, Kansas City, MO, Reading Tea Leaves
1996 Joan Roebuck Gallery, Lafayette, CA
1995 Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York, NY, Movement and Rest
Colgate University Art Museum, Hamilton, NY, Movement & Rest
1993 Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York, NY, Better Nature
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1993 Joan Roebuck Gallery, Lafayette, CA
1992 Mincher-Wilcox Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1990 Mincher-Wilcox Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1989 Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York, NY, Sun/Moon
1988 Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York, NY, Oak Island Studies
1987 Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York, NY, Forming
1982 Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY
1980 Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY
1978 Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY
1975 Carlo Lamagna Gallery, New York, NY
1974 80 Washington Square East Gallery, New York, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 Works on paper II, Danese Gallery, New York, NY
Armory Show, Danese Gallery, New York, NY
The Nature of Glass, Shack Art Center, Everett, WA
Heritage Bank, San Jose, CA, Curated by Jane Salvin
Conference of the Birds, curated by Cynthia Reeves, NH
2010 Art in Embassies Exhibition, Lisbon, Portugal
For Love of Paper, Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson, WY
Intimate to Monumental, Gail Severn Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
Other as Animal, Danese Gallery, NY, curated by April Gornik
Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and
Letters, NYC
Future Tense: Landscape in Transition, Stephan Stoyanov Gallery, NYC
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2010 James Castle & Jane Rosen, Dallas Art Fair, Dallas, TX
2009 Ed Musante and Jane Rosen, Gail Severn Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
Super Flat, Braunstein Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Ashes to Ashes, Life and Death in Contemporary Glass, Virginia
Commonwealth Center, Virginia Beach, VA
Natural Blunders, De Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA
Holiday Special: Gallery Group Show, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San
Francisco, CA
Contemporary Drawings and Works on Paper, Center for Contemporary
Art, Sacramento, CA
2008 Collaboration, Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA
The Fine Art of Banking, Heritage Bank, San Jose, CA
2007 Migration, Friesen Gallery, Seattle, WA
Migration, Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
2006 From Nature, Gwenda Jay/Addington Gallery, Chicago, IL
About Glass, Friesen Gallery, Seattle, WA
Shifting into Balance, Buckhorn Sculpture Park, Petaluma, CA
Alignment, Friesen Gallery, Seattle, WA
2005 Judy Pfaff, Jane Rosen, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Speaking Volumes, curated by Judith Tolnick Champa
Fine Art Center Galleries, University of Rhode Island, R.I.
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AWARDS
2010 Purchase Award, Academy of Arts & Letters Invitational
Exhibition, New York, NY
2008 Artist in Residence, Pilchuck Glass School, Seattle, WA
1999 Artist in Residence, Pilchuck Glass School, Seattle, WA
1988 MADEIN / Luso-American Foundation Grant
1982-83 CAPS, Full Award in Sculpture
1980-81 NEA, Full Award in Sculpture
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
1996-2006 Special Lecturer
University of California at Berkeley Art Department, Berkeley, CA
1998 Research Fellow
LaCoste School of the Arts, France
1995 - 1996 Milton Avery Distinguished Visiting Professor
Bard College, Annandale-on-the-Hudson, NY
1994 - 1995 Special Lecturer
University of California at Berkeley Art Department, Berkeley, CA
1993 Visiting Consulting Professor
Stanford University Art Department, Stanford, CA
1990 - 1992 Visiting Assistant Professor
University of California at Davis Art Department, Davis, CA
1985 Visiting Professor
Maryland Institute, College of Fine Arts, Baltimore, MD
1978 - 1989 Senior Faculty School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
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COLLECTIONS
U.S. Embassy Baghdad
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO
Brooklyn Museum, NY
Chase Manhattan Bank, NY
Chevron Corporation, CA
Ciba-Geigy Chemical Corporation, Ardsley, NY
Douglas Maxwell, NY
Grace Borgenicht Collection, NY
Lowe Art Museum, FL
Luso American Foundation, Portugal
The Mallin Collection, Buckhorn Sculpture Park, CT
Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester, University of Rochester, NY
Mitsubishi Corporation, LA
Novell, Provo, UT
Phoenix Arts Commission, Phoenix, AZ
Proskauer, Rose, Goetze and Mendelsohn, NY
Prudential Insurance Company, Newark, NJ
Scottsdale Museum of Art, Scottsdale, AZ
U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq
U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia
Yellowstone Museum, Billings, MT
Published on the occasion of the exhibition
J A N E ROS E NS e c o n d N a t u r e14 july - 23 august 2011
Tayloe Piggott Gallery62 South Glenwood Street, PO Box 1435Jackson, Wyoming 83001Tel 307 733 0555
www.tayloepiggottgallery.com
Catalog designed by Ali Scheier
Printed by Northern Printers
Interview by Richard Whittaker“Seeing” published in Parabola MagazineAugust, 2011
Photographs by Richard Whittaker, Scotty McDonald, Alexander Rohrig, and Charlie Hawks All rights reservedTayloe Piggott Gallery
Acknowledgements
With deepest thanks to an amazing team: Ross Richmond and Kimberly Haugh for their exceptional work with the glass; Terrance K. Tierney, Alexander Rohrig and Sebastian Ages for their amazing efforts on this body of work; Richard Whittaker for his depth and insight in the Parabola interview and his ever beautiful photographs, Scotty McDonald for his photographic skills and sensitivity; and to Tayloe Piggott, ever the muse with eyes to truly see, making all things possible.
(Previous Page), Glass Blow Study # 3, 2010
Korean watercolor, beeswax, gouache and ink on paper
22 x 30 inches
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