Jane Rainwater [small works]

On view January 9 – February 15, 2017

Art reception on January 14th Saturday 6 – 8:30 pm

EBK Gallery [small works].
218 Pearl St.
Hartford, CT

My work is beautiful and ugly. People are often attracted to the aesthetics of an image or object that stimulates desire. Decorative objects are collected and exhibited in the home as status symbols of affluence and refinement. My work engages the viewer with its seemingly innocent decorative delight; yet upon closer examination the work challenges and questions our attraction by revealing darker truths. I explore the hidden cost inherent in most of what we find seductively attractive. My current series, Botanical Tyranny, Memento Mori, Insect Insurrection and Birds of Pray, reference classical nature illustration, Victorian silhouettes, wallpaper and prints as a critique of cultural history.

A dark undercurrent of “cultural reckoning” informs my series drawings and prints. Rooted in the tradition of botanical illustration, the silhouettes of seeming real plants and animals are in fact, carefully constructed from silhouettes of axes, scimitars, guns and grenades. Our measured gardens and cultivated civility are rooted in a history of violent conquest. While grenades may have replaced scimitars in our arsenals, the underlying theme remains. The beauty of our culture, like that all of those which preceded it, is but a mask for the ugliness of our own nature.

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Gallery Sheet and Pricing PDF

Jane Rainwater received a Radius Emerging Artist Fellowship from The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, Jane has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the country.Jane Rainwater grew up in Westport, CT and currently lives in Andover, CT. She teaches art and design at several colleges and universities in Connecticut. She is also the owner of Rainwater Design. She holds a MFA from Lesley College of Art and Design, and a BFA from The Hartford Art School. Jane is the curator of the Dehn Gallery at MCC on Main in Manchester, CT

CV / Resume

JANE RAINWATER

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2017
EBK Gallery, Hartford, CT

2014
Bioperversity, Clare Gallery, Hartford, CT

2013
Botanical Tyranny, Mark Twain House and Museum

2012
Digital Realms, Japanalia Walls, Hartford, CT

2011-12
Memento Mori, Ningyo Editions, Boston. MA. Print published, catalog.

2007
The Gold Show, Conrad Mallett Gallery, Hartford, CT, storefront Installation

1986
Odd Lots, Photoworks Gallery, Hartford, CT, Digital Collage

JURIED GROUP SHOWS

2016
Embodied Narratives, Artspace, Willimantic. CT
Violent Nature, The Dehn Gallery, Manchester, CT

2015
Northeastern, New Britian Museum of American Art, new Britain, CT
Paper New England, Five Points Gallery, Torrington. CT

2014
Transforming Violence, Cambridge College, Cambridge, MA
CT Women Artists, Hartford Fine Art, East Hartford, CT
Cut and Paste Collage Show, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT

2013
The Gun Show, Boston. MA

2012
Take Aim, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Visible Reform, Good Question Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2011
Forget Me Knots, Hygienic Gallery, New London, CT

2010
Flower (RE) Power, Housatonic Museum of Art, Housatonic, CT
Botanical Dreams and Nightmares, Sacred Heart University, CT
Refurbished Means, Artspace, New Haven, CT

2009
49th Annual Juried Show, Gallery on the Green, Canton, CT, Drawings. Award
Radius 11, Radius Artists, Aldrich Museum & Ridgefield Art Guild

2008
My Yard Our Message, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, On-line competition.
Public voting, Top 20. http://www.myyardourmessage.com/signs/winning/
Media: Political Lawn Signs, vinyl
Pretty Things, Artspace, New Haven, CT, curated by Joy Pepe, stipend and catalogue.
Media: Storefront Installation with video
Building Consensus, Akus Gallery, Eastern CT State University, curated by Elizabeth Peterson, Catalogue, Media: Ink Drawings
Deliciously Disposable Earth, Three Rivers 937 Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA,
curated by Carolyn Loyola-Garcia. Stipend and Catalogue.
Media: 14K gold “Enslavement Bracelets.”

2007
Contemporary Perspectives, ALL Gallery, New Haven, CT, curated by Howard Al-Yasin
Media: Gilded Lead Sculpture
Golden Pawnshop, Porter Square Gallery, Cambridge, MA. Catalogue.
Media: Storefront Installation and video
Interleaving, ALL Gallery, New Haven, CT, curated by Howard Al-Yasin.
Media: Gilded lead sculpture

2005 & 2007
Word Art II & WORD-ART III, (collaborations with poets.) Canton Gallery on the Green, Canton, CT, curated by Kent McCoy.
Media: Digital collage, and my poetry.

2006
Modern Day Slavery Show, Godine Family Gallery, Boston, MA, curated by
Kassandra Derby. Mixed media.
Golden Opportunity, Ethical Metalsmiths, online (www.ethicalmetalsmiths.org) and
screened in Chicago & London, curated by Susan Kingsley. Mixed Media

2004
Tenth Anniversary Show, Pearl Street Gallery, Hartford, CT, curated by Janice LaMotta
Media: Digital Collage

1998
Jane Rainwater, The Promenade Gallery at The Bushnell, Hartford, CT, curated by Janice LaMotta.
Media: Digital Collage

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2014-present Curator, Dehn Gallery, MCC on Main, 903 Main Street, Manchester, CT

2009 – ongoing Adjunct, Manchester Community College 2-D design

Eastern CT State University, Software instruction: Illustrator and In Design,

Intro to Digital for non-Art Majors, Magazine Design and Graphic Design.

2009-2011 Art Institute of Pittsburgh on-line, 2D design, Advanced Computer Graphics

2008 Adjunct, University of New Haven, Type II and Graphic Design II

2008

Full time Sabbatical Northwestern CT Community College, Full time

Replacement Professor of Graphic Design, Graphic Design 1, two sections

Director of Founder’s Hall Gallery, Student advisor (45 students),

MAC Lab Director

Full time Sabbatical Hartford Art School, Hartford, CT, Full time

Replacement 2001-2 Foundations for Freshman, Typography I & II, Graphic Design III

2007 Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, CT, Adjunct

Digital Illustration (Adobe Illustrator), Digital Design (Adobe InDesign)

2004-2008 Manchester Community College, Manchester, CT, Adjunct

Graphic Design I & 11, and Two-Dimensional Design

2003 Great Path Academy Magnet School, Manchester, CT, Adjunct

Graphic Design, Publication Design, 2D design

1986-87 Hartford Art School, Hartford, CT, Adjunct

Graphic Design I, II & III

Guest Speaker: Plexus Institute, Artspace Gallery, Manchester Community

College, Greater Hartford Arts Council, Hartford Art School, Purnell School,

International Association of Business Communicators, CT Art Director’s Club.

EDUCATION

F. A., Visual Arts, Art Institute of Boston, MA
F. A., Printmaking, Hartford Art School, Hartford, CT
Study with Milton Glaser, Graphic Design, School of Visual Arts, NYC
Study with Patricia Miranda, Illuminated Manuscript Painting, Truro, MA
Graduate Mentorships with Peter Waite, Barbara Bloom, and Richard Klein