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Artist
Jane Skodje
Biography
My name is Jane Skodje, I am an undergraduate student at Gustavus Adolphus College studying Studio Art and Computer Science. I grew up in South Minneapolis and have lived there my whole life. I have two artists for parents and two very talented siblings. They influence my work greatly.
I have recently finished a commissioned portrait and shown my work in a group show in the Schaefer Gallery. This summer I will be interning at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in the Interpretive & Participatory Experience (IPE) department.
Artist Statement
My work is based in memory and storytelling. It takes me back to rainy days sitting in my living room reading while my dad painted upstairs to the soundtrack of ABBA’s greatest hits. It also reminds me of warm, summer days when I could run barefoot through the mud, going on adventures with my older brother and my best friend.
“If you need me, let me know, gonna be around
If you've got no place to go, if you're feeling down
If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown”
ABBA
“Mushy dough, mushy dough, tempera paint. Do what your mother says, she’s a saint,”
My Father
My quick and gestural marks with design markers capture my childhood inability to sit still. The color comes from the bright clothing I loved to dress myself in as a kid. This medium help me build up color in layers to build depth and capture a memory before it fades again. In painting, I approach brushstroke in a different way. Painting becomes a way to feel each shape with the brush and the color.
“The real difference between us and chimpanzees is the mysterious glue that enables millions of humans to cooperate effectively. The mysterious glue is made of stories, not genes.”
Yuval Noah Harari
Stories are what hold us together. We humans have succeeded and survived because of our capacity for empathy and care for each other. We have widened our scope of empathy through storytelling. I use my work to explore the bounds of a child’s imagination and how that influences how as children and as adults, we engage with the world. Art has been a constant in my life and so my memories of childhood are steeped in color and song.
“And there will be a poetry
spoken silently between me and the stereo”
Against Me!
Info
United States
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis
Work Experience
Education
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Activity
- Jane Skodje updated the Artwork Mother
Alternatively titled, Mushito, Mushito, Tempera Paint. Do what your mother says, she's a saint. A portrait of my mother influenced by Matisse and Alice Neel. - Jane Skodje updated the Artwork Figure Study 1
A figure study, one and a half hour pose. - Jane Skodje updated the Artwork President Brother Michael Collins, DeLaSalle
After the president of DeLaSalle High School passed away in 2012, I was commissioned for a portrait of him to hang in the school. - Jane Skodje updated the Artwork Alexandra and her Viola
A commission for a Senior Viola Recital. Drawing given to the family and put on the cover of the program. - Jane Skodje updated the Artwork A Great-Grandfather
Commission for a birthday. - Jane Skodje updated the Artwork Mother
Alternatively titled, Mushito, Mushito, Tempera Paint. Do what your mother says, she's a saint. A portrait of my mother influenced by Matisse and Alice Neel. - Jane Skodje updated the Artwork Figure Study 1
A figure study, one and a half hour pose. - Jane Skodje updated the Artwork MotherAlternatively titled, Mushito, Mushito, Tempera Paint. Do what your mother says, she's a saint. A portrait of my mother influenced by Matisse and Alice Neel.