Aukshunas, Jane

An escapee from the Northeast, Jane Aukshunas spends a lot of her time driving around the Northwest looking for intriguing scenes to interpret in oil pastel. Her graphicsimplifications of the landscape pare the world down to the essential elements, shapes, and colors that are the crux of her imagery. Vibrant color and sensuality of the line give her work a playful and contemporary feeling.

Jane lives in the Northwest in a region with diverse terrain that is rich with what may be the widest variety of crops in the world. Consequently there is much in her environment to inspire the landscapes she creates.

“To capture the abundance of color in this world, I prefer working with thick applications of richly-colored oil pastels. When I apply them, I feel as though I’m massaging my work into being. In my use of color, I identify with the early 1900s European artists who were dubbed the Fauves (wild beasts) whose leading member was Henri Matisse.”

Jane Aukshunas earned her degree from Massachusetts College of Art with additional course work at Parson’s School of Design in New York City

Door Into the Hills Untitled