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The paintings of Jane Filer

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Jane Filer: great North Carolina artist who works with acrylic paint.

This is a the first real painting I ever bought. I was walking by the gallery in University Mall in Chapel Hill, NC when the pictures in the window drew me into the place. It was the first time I'd ever gone into an art gallery of my own free will!

I stared at all Jane's paintings, I couldn't take my eyes off them. I was with my son. We left, I steamed and stewed, and finally I went back and bought it. Wow, am I glad I did. I hung it where I can see it all day every day.

I discovered Jane was giving classes at the Carrboro ArtCenter and I signed up. Her class was fabulous - relaxed, friendly, inspiring.

She doesn't teach at the ArtCenter any more, sadly, but she does hold a yearly retreat out at the beach. My daughter and I went a couple years ago and there are pictures from that Emerald Isle idyll below...

I bought another Filer painting a year or two ago because I couldn't help it. I justify it to myself by thinking, this way each of my children will get one when I'm gone!

Visit Jane Filer's website to see more pictures, for more information, and to contact her directly. Also, see my other lens on Jane Filer's giant puppet masks

A few of Jane Filer's recent paintings

There are tons more pictures at her website.

A little bit about artist Jane Filer

Jane Filer was born in 1957 and grew up in San Jose, California. At the age of five Jane began to paint with a noticeably abnormal dedication.

At age eleven the family migrated to Western Australia where Jane first became acquainted with the ethereal artwork of the aboriginal people. The mystical nature of this culture made for a lasting impression.

After high school - in response to the encouragement of her aunt and godmother - Jane moved to Chicago, Illinois to begin her art education. The cold climate and windy winters drew Jane south; she received a Bachelors of Fine Arts with honors at Southern Illinois University.

Jane Filer, then Jane Robinson, received the Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award, the highest award in the country given to graduating seniors.

Jane married John Filer and moved to North Carolina where she received her Masters degree in Fine Art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in a house that she and John built in the middle of the woods.

Jane's love of the landscape, animals and plant life that surround her daily are evident in her work. Her aboriginal influences are curiously evident in her paintings as well.

She will often have "Happenings" during her home town gallery openings at Tyndall Gallery in Chapel Hill.

In 2006, after teaching painting and drawing 21 years at The Carrboro Arts Center, Jane retired. Now at the age of 50 she has dedicated the rest of her life solely to painting. In her honor the Arts Center has named the room that she had spent so much time spreading her contagious love for the visual arts "The Jane Filer Painting Studio".

To this day, her paintings are inspired by deep contemplations of life, reality and her relationship to nature. Her work has been included in numerous prestigious collections of corporate, commercial and private sectors across America, Europe and Asia. Included among these are IBM, Duke Hospital, Kevin Klose, President and CEO of National Public Radio, the American Embassy in Estonia and Eileen Naughton, Google New York- Sales Director, and former President of Time Magazine.

2010 calendar: The Wonderful World of Jane Filer

I've ordered six already.

At the Artistic Whims website you can look at previews of the gorgeous paintings in this calendar.

Jane Filer's "Artist Statement"

My paintings are evolved from historical and prehistoric observations. They are my response to clues I have gathered from the most ancient to the most modern visual references available. Blending this with the relationship I have with my own existence I create a fantastical story. The sense of story is used to provoke exciting aspects of being and existing in this amazing world.

I am in love with color and sensual surface textures on my canvases and I am in love with life.

You can own a Jane Filer painting, too!

Here's how to find them.

At the following link, find the galleries that represent her in NC (Chapel Hill, Asheville, Atlantic Beach); in Atlanta GA, and in Lakeville, CT:

Jane Filer paintings in galleries.

You can also call or email her:

Jane Filer contact information.

Jane Filer's annual Artist Retreat on Emerald Isle

It's an amazing opportunity to work, watch, learn, and walk on the beach

It's held at the Trinity Conference Center; there are sleeping cabins and a big dining room and a huge room where all the painters get half a table (I shared one with my daughter) and you can set up your painting and your paints and LEAVE THEM THERE for the whole three-day weekend, which is an amazing luxury and really makes it easy to get a lot done.

Jane gives a few presentations on basic handling of paint, color, etc., and goes around and talks very informally and happily to all the participants, one by one, whatever level they're at, about the paintings they're working on and gives some suggestions.

What I found the most fun was her demonstrations - she brings a painting of her own to work on and over the course of the weekend stands with it, stares at it with the laser light that beams out of her mild eyes when she's looking at her canvas, and then decides what to do next. She paints it right in front of us, and then later we can see it at the gallery!

"Painting by the Sea" with Jane Filer

An annual artist retreat weekend - my daughter and I went in 2007

Some other lenses on art and artists, professional and amateur

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A new Jane Filer acrylic painting from summer 2009 

What do you think?

  • AnnRadley Dec 2, 2009 @ 8:50 pm | delete
    Striking shapes, composition and use of color - especially the one at the bottom of your lens. Great lens!
  • jptanabe Oct 6, 2009 @ 8:59 am | delete
    Love those colors! Great lens.
  • Kate-Phizackerley Sep 15, 2009 @ 10:18 am | delete
    Thanks for stopping by so many of my lenses recently. I was looking through your list for a lens to visit and saw an art lens so that was an easy choice. So glad I did as it's nice work.
    Kate
  • Evelyn_Saenz Sep 14, 2009 @ 7:49 pm | delete
    I love the bright colors that Jane Filer uses. I can see the influence from the Australian Aborigines in her work. Thank you so much for sharing.
  • kimmanleyort Aug 26, 2009 @ 12:00 am | delete
    You can tell that you really love the work! I agree that it is beautiful. I too love colorful art. Love your blue and red combo on the lens. It really works for this subject.
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Some of my other lenses

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Painting by Jane Filer, summer 2009 

by

ChapelHillFiddler

Musician in Chapel Hill with two bands: Mappamundi, a world music - klezmer - swing band, and the Pratie Heads, a Celtic - British Isles - early music... more »

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