About Jane

Jane LaFazio

Photo courtesy of Petey Dietz.

I am a mixed media artist working in paper and cloth.
I believe I’m living the life I was meant to live, that of an artist, art teacher, and partner of my beloved husband.
 
My Story:
When I was a child, I would visit my father once a month, at his apartment in San Francisco, (my parents were divorced) and not only would he take me to museums, plays, and craft fairs (and to Haight Asbury!) he encouraged my creativity by making things. In his kitchen, he had a card table set up, laden with treasures like glitter and pipe cleaners and crepe paper. We would work there together, during my visits. At each holiday, as I recall, he made me giant easter eggs full of candy, or two foot high christmas trees of crepe paper, that I would take home on the train (usually, the creations needed their own seat!)
 
My mother, a working single mom of two, condoned my creativity by the simple unspoken rule, that if I was doing something creative (perhaps rearranging my doll house, drawing, or building a flag pole from broom handles in the backyard) she would not interrupt me to do chores. 
 
I was 16 when my mother brought home a stitchery kit (as a gift for a cousin.) I commandeered it and began my love of hand stitching. For many many years I worked kits of crewel work, needlepoint, and counted cross stitch. 
 
When I went back to school, in my late twenties, I took graphic design classes. I knew I loved working with my hands, but didn’t think I could ‘draw.’ I went on to work in technical illustration, graphic design and marketing for about 15 years. 
 
It wasn’t until my husband’s brain aneurysm, in 1992, that I discovered I could draw and was an artist. My husband was 46, and had a brain injury. He had to learn to walk, talk, read and write all over again. I was his 24 hour caregiver. I was loosing the “Jane” in me, while grieving my husband’s cognitive losses and the future plans we’d made. 
 
I signed up for a drawing class, every Tuesday morning. I realized I could draw! The teacher moved away, and the class became a watercolor class. I didn’t want to change to watercolor, but it was my only free time during the week, so I became a watercolor artist. Over the years I added collage, and mixed media, and textiles to my artist repertoire. 
 
My husband’s brain injury forced us to recreate our lives. He volunteers, golfs, does the grocery shopping and laundry. I work full time as an artist and teacher.
 
I work hard now, at what I love. I blog every other day about my creative pursuits with pages from my sketchbook, art quilts, a new collage or recent trip. I share tutorials and, I hope, inspiration with my blog readers. 
 
 
Authored Articles
Quilting Arts magazine
(June/July 2007, October/November 2008, October/November 2009, June/July 2010, Feb/March 2011, April/May 2011, Feb/March 2012)

Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine
(January/February 2007, March/April 2007, May/June 2007, March/April 2008, May/June 2008, July/August 2008, March/April 2009, March/April 2010, Nov/Dec 2010, March/April 2012)
 
Pages magazine
Winter 2011
 
Studios Magazine
Spring 2012

Quilting Arts Gifts magazine, 2008-2009

In Stiches (eMagazine)

Television/DVD
From Art Journaling to Art, DVD or download starring Jane LaFazio
The Small Art Quilt Instructional Art Quilt DVD starring Jane LaFazio
Quilting Arts TV, Season 3, December 2008
Quilting Arts TV Season 8, 2011
 
Education
Bachelor of Arts, Asian Studies and A.A. Graphic Design

Art Teaching Experience
 Adventures in Italy (Orvieto, Italy)
Art and Soul Art Retreats (Portland and Las Vegas)
Art Unraveled (Phoenix, Arizona)
Athenaeum School of Art
CREATE (Chicago and California)
Idyllwild Summer Arts Program
International Quilt Festival, Long Beach and Houston, TX
Mingei Museum of Art
Oceanside Museum of Art School of Art
Random Arts (North Carolina)
San Diego Museum of Art
The Blue Walk (France)

Kid’s art classes
Mundo Lindo ~Beautiful World 2007-present
Los Penasquitos Elementary School teaching artist 2005-2007
Oceanside Museum of Art Outreach Program, Oceanside Elementary Schools 2002- 2005
San Diego Watercolor Society, Outreach Program 2008-2010

Contributor Books
Material Visions: A Gallery of Miniature Art Quilts 2004
Fabric Art Gallery 2005
Beginner’s Guide to Art Quilts 2006
Sew Somerset 2008
Mixed-Media Self-Portraits: Inspiration & Techniques, Cate Coulacos Prato
An Illustrated Life, Danny Gregory 2008
Art Quilts at Play, Jane Dávila and Elin Waterston 2008
Surface Design Essentials, Jane Dávila 2010
Personal Geographies, Jill K. Berry 2011
The Cloth Paper Scissors Book, Barbara Delaney 2011
The Sketchbook Challenge, Sue Bleiweiss 2012

Online Interviews
Blog Talk Radio with Lesley Riley September 2011
Artistically Speaking Talk Radio  October 2011
Running with Scissors Interview April 4, 2010  
Art Plantae Today  Interview (January 1, 2011 and Questions (January 24, 2011)
Piecing Together a Career as an Artist (Sept 3, 2008), Voice of San Diego
Cloth Paper Scissor May 9, 2011 for my DVD

Volunteer Work
Studio Art Quilts Associates Southern California Co-Representative 2009-2011
San Diego Watercolor Society Board of Directors, President 2000-02, Communications Dir. 2007-08
Foundation for Women Art Exhibition Chairperson 2002-2004
National Arts Marketing Project, Steering Committee 2000-2002
San Diego Brain Injury Foundation 1994-present
Southern Caregiver Resource Center 2003-2008


Selected Solo & Group Exhibitions
Palomar College Boehm Gallery (4 person show: 2006);  California Center for the Arts, Escondido Museum (invitational); Expressive Arts Institute of San Diego (solo); ArtWalk 2005 featured artist and ArtWalk Refrigerator artist;  Dos Amigas: Icons, Milagros, and Tributes (5 years running–2 person show);  Scripps Memorial Hospital (solo);  South Chula Vista Library (solo)
 
Selected Juried Exhibitions
Numerous juried art exhibitions since 1994, including acceptance into The Space Between, International  Quilt Festival; Beneath the Surface, International Quilt Festival; Edges, International Quilt Festival;  Interpretations 2011, Visions Art Museum;  Quilt Visions 2010: No Boundaries; Athenaeum Annual Exhibition 2008;San Diego Art Institute Annual International Award Exhibition three times;  Oceanside Museum of Art Regional 4 exhibition;  El Cajon International Friendship Festival Fine Arts Exhibits;  San Diego Museum of Art All California Juried Exhibition 2000 and many monthly exhibitions in San Diego Art Institute;  Escondido Municipal Gallery and San Diego Watercolor Society
 
Please visit my other blog:
Mundo Lindo (Beautiful World)
A free afterschool arts program for 4th & 5th grade kids created in 2007,  and taught by me.