Jane James

“Art has always served as a record of our cultural lives, that’s what it has done since the beginning of time.”

Jane James, Artist

Jane James is a visual artist based in Brisbane, Australia. The natural world, sea and marine conservation are central to her work, which is representational in media including drawing, painting, sculpture and printmaking.  Her work is held in public collections and by private art collectors internationally and she is an Award winning artist  having had her work recognised both in Australia and overseas. 

An exhibiting member of the Australian Society of Marine Artists, Jane has a lifelong involvement with the sea and marine conservation.

Her work is largely representational but also uses manipulation of visual language to overlay meaning.  Jane works extensively at the interface of art and science and the stories behind the creation of her work are shared where available via linked  sites on the Archived Work pages such as Evanescence and Seven/Tenths. These links provide additional information for site visitors.

A rigorous scientific approach,  working with researchers into biology and the environment, and many thousands of kilometres of travel are often central to assembling the extensive reference material underpinning a body of work.

Her work is available for viewing at her studio in Brisbane and she also exhibits in Brisbane and Hobart periodically. 

Current works available for sale may be viewed online in the Stockroom.

As a dive instructor and diver of many years, underwater art and marine art are a passion. Jane also provides a specialty marine art course as live-in workshops on Lady Elliot Island when demand and circumstances allow. 

PRAISE

“I first met Jane in November 2014 at her art exhibition “Bower”.  I was so impressed by the mastery, vitality and physical presence of her paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures that I immediately wanted to know more about Jane and her work. As I have done so over the past year, I have become increasingly confident that Jane is an artist with a unique vision and that she possesses the talent and determination to bring her vision into being through art. Jane’s concern and compassion for her subjects is deeply moving.

The quality of Jane’s artwork in “Bower” exhibition displays professional excellence on every level. Her painstaking research is evident in her representational mastery of her subject matter and her uncanny ability to make it speak to an audience unskilled or even uninterested in orthinology. Jane uses structure and composition in conjunction with a restrained colour palette to convey the individuality of every Bower Bird’s bower in a way that is reminiscent of Georgia O’Keefe’s “portraits” of individual flowers. Jane’s manipulation of paint and experimentation with paint layers speaks to the viewer in a visual language that is above and beyond her representational subject matter.” 

Di Heenan, Writer, Visual Artist and Gallery Director

“This exhibition, we said yes, is a continuation of a series that Jane has mounted that use what you might call coded art to send a powerful message of justice and equality. Coded in that she has turned to the visual language of mariners—semaphore—and the coded alphabet of morse to present the strong, succinct and positive message of marriage equality – we said yes to love. This builds on her earlier exhibition Semantics in which she explored the word ‘faggot’ a word that has at one level a simple meaning, yet causes profound distress and harm when used as a slur or insult. Semantics was followed by Equality, a concept and commitment close to my heart.

In these most recent works that surround us, Jane continues to encourage us to think about the coded ways in which we use language and its power for good and harm…She shows the power of art to communicate simply, gracefully and powerfully, and to give joy… Jane has shown us how we can do things differently – using highly no-frills coding systems—semaphore and morse—developed to communicate clear messages across water and between continents to communicate profoundly important and celebratory ideas. 

And of course, in doing this, she has added the touch of visual beauty.”

Robin Banks, Lawyer, Human Rights Advocate

“I’m excited by this [Data Lounge Project] totally unexpected way to use our data, we designed a website to display ground cover data, thinking it would be used by land managers and other scientists… and now it has inspired an artwork.”

Rebecca Trevithick, Senior Scientist

“I enjoy thinking of better ways to visualise complex data, , but this is the first time my plots have been made three dimensional.”

Robert Denham, Environmental Statistician

“I normally use satellite imagery to map changes in land cover, this project allowed me to emphasise the beauty of the imagery instead.”

Al Healy, Scientist