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Jane Ingram Allen: Living Quilts

CAE2207

Summary Note

For Jane Ingram Allen’s Living Quilts, the artist uses wildflower-seeded handmade paper created and installed by the community. Focused on environmental issues, the works change over time into a wildflower garden.

Biographical Note

Jane Ingram Allen is an American sculptor/installation artist and hand paper maker now living in Santa Rosa, CA. She is originally from Alabama and lived in New York State from 1988-2004. In 2004 she received a Fulbright Scholar Award for a six-month research project on hand papermaking in Taiwan. Her Fulbright grant was extended through July 2005 with sponsorship by the Taiwan Council for Cultural Affairs/National Endowment for Culture and Art.
Allen has been an art teacher and professor of art for many years. She was the art instructor at the State University of New York in Morrisville, NY, from 1988 – 2001 and an adjunct art professor at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY, 2001-04. She is also an art critic and writer for SCULPTURE magazine and other art magazines, as well as an independent curator. She has taught art classes and papermaking workshops at many universities, colleges, public schools, museums and art centers. Allen has had solo exhibitions of her paper artworks at galleries and museums in New York and throughout the USA as well as internationally. She has done outdoor environmental installations using handmade paper at many public parks, sculpture gardens and in public buildings, plazas and other public spaces.
Allen has been an artist-in-residence at several organizations in the US as well as in the Philippines, Japan, Nepal, Brazil, China, Tanzania, Indonesia, Thailand and Turkey. She has spent longer in Taiwan than any other place and is continuing her work with the many papermaking plants of Taiwan. Her work in Taiwan has resulted in the publication of a book titled Made in Taiwan – an American Papermaking Artist’s Journey Around Taiwan that contains documentation of her artwork and residencies in 14 different communities making handmade paper art from 135 different plants of Taiwan. She has also completed residency projects in the USA with many organizations including the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia, PA, the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts in Wilmington, DE, Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, Otis, Oregon and Newnan ArtRez, Newnan, GA.

Scope and Content

Allen’s artworks are site-specific installations that are inspired by nature and created from materials collected in a particular place and time. For her Living Quilts she uses wildflower-seeded handmade paper. Many of her works change over time and are focused on environmental issues. She makes collaborative works and community art projects that involve viewer participation and integrate the process with nature as a partner.

Materials include digital images, handmade paper quilt samples, design documents, slides, and press materials.

Arrangement

The series in this archive are arranged by subject.
  • Series 1: Artist and Living Quilt Information
  • Series 2: Projects

Inclusive Dates

1995-2023

Bulk Dates

2003-2021

Quantity / Extent

.25 cubic feet

Language

English, Chinese

Related Archive Collections

  • CAE1401: Jane Ingram Allen: Guandu International Outdoor Sculpture Festival
  • CAE0911: Jane Ingram Allen: Guandu International Sculpture Festival

Related Publications

Allen, Jane Ingram. Art as Environment: A Cultural Action in Tropic of Cancer. Republic of China: Chiayi County Government, 2008.

Allen, Jane Ingram. Made in Taiwan: An American Papermaking Artist’s Journey around Taiwan. Taipei, Taiwan: Council of Cultural Affairs, Taiwan, 2005.

Container Listing by Series:

CAE2207/1 Series 1: Artist and Project Information, 2003-2023

Series 1 contains information on the artist, Fulbright Scholar Awards, and Eco/Land and Living Quilt.

  • CAE Box 265

    • 1-1 General Artist Information, 2003-2023
    • 1-2 Fulbright Scholar Awards (2003-04 and 2004-05), 2005
    • 1-3 Eco/Land and Living Quilt Information, 2013-2021

CAE2207/2 Series 2: Projects, 1995-2022

Series 2 contains projects.

  • CAE Box 265

    • 2-1 Earth Quilt, Morrisville NY, 1995
    • 2-2 Disappearing Boundary, Woodstock VT, 2001
    • 2-3 Earth Map, Schuylkill Center, Philadelphia PA, 2001
    • 2-4 Global Warming, Wilmington DE, 2003
    • 2-5 Making my Bed, Sumpter SC, 2003
    • 2-6 Blue River, Taipei Taiwan, 2004
    • 2-7 Living Earth and Blue River, Taichung Taiwan, 2006
    • 2-8 Nests for Humans, Taipei Taiwan, 2006
    • 2-9 For the Birds, Point Reyes Station CA, 2013
    • 2-10 Lancaster Eco-Quilt, Lancaster CA, 2016
    • 2-11 Living Quilt for Newnan, Newnan GA, 2017
    • 2-12 Living Quilt for Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa CA, 2018
    • 2-13 Guns into Flowers, Sacramento CA, 2019
    • 2-14 Flower Power, Woodland CA, 2020
    • 2-15 Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth, Sacramento CA, 2020
    • 2-16 Living Quilt for Nestucca Valley, Cloverdale OR, 2021
    • 2-17 Living Quilt for Steckborn, Steckborn Switzerland, 2021
    • 2-18 Living Leaf for Pepperwood Preserve, Santa Rosa CA, 2022

Additional Materials

  • CAE Box 264 Objects

    • 2-9#8 Nest from For the Birds, Local branches and handmade paper with bird seeds in pulp, 2013

  • CAE Flat File F25 Oversized Items

    • 2-10#6 Lancaster Eco-Quilt Border Sample, Handmade paper with wildflower seeds, 2016
    • 2-13#2 Guns Into Flowers Sample, Handmade paper with wildflower seeds, 2019
    • 2-15#6 Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth Sample, Handmade paper with wildflower seeds, 2020
    • 2-16#10 Living Quilt for Nestucca Valley Sample, Handmade paper with wildflower seeds, 2021
    • 2-17#7 Living Quilt for Steckborn Sample, Handmade paper with wildflower seeds, 2021

  • CAE S-Box 45

    • 2-6#3 Min Sheng Daily, Newspaper Clipping, 2004
    • 2-11#4 Jane Ingram Allen newest Resident of Gray Cottage, The Newnan Times-Herald, August 27, 2017
    • 2-12#8 Living Quilt for Santa Rosa Sample (1), Handmade paper, 2018
    • 2-12#9 Living Quilt for Santa Rosa Sample (2), Handmade paper, 2018
    • 2-13#1 Jane Ingram Allen, Natomas Charter School, Guns Into Flowers, Poster, 2019