Jane D'Arensbourg studied sculpture and glass blowing at the California College of Arts and Crafts, in Oakland and San Francisco, CA.. She graduated...
Jane D'Arensbourg studied sculpture and glass blowing at the California College of Arts and Crafts, in Oakland and San Francisco, CA.. She graduated in 1996, with a BFA in Glass. She has also studied glass at the Pillchuck School of Glass, in WA. State, near Seattle. She has spent several Summer's at the Pillchuck Glass School, as a student, teaching assistant, and was an Emerging Artist in Residence in the Fall of 1996. She has taught glass classes at Urban Glass, Brooklyn NY., The 92nd Street Y, New York, NY., and the Worcester Center for Crafts, Worcester, MA.
Jane moved to New York City in 1999, to pursue her art career. She has shown her glass sculptures, and mixed media art works in numerous galleries and museums, along the West and East Coast,as well as abroad. Jane has shown in The Museum of Art and Design, NY., The Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany, The Khingspor Museum, Offenbach, Germany, and the Museum of Northwest Art, WA.. Jane has also shown her video projection artwork in The Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY.
In 2001 Jane D'Arenbourg started making glass jewelry. She was able to transform a-lot of her ideas from sculpture into something wearable. Glass chain link is an element that Jane has used since 1995 in a-lot of her past sculptures, and glass installations. Glass chain was easily transformed into necklaces and earrings. The sound and movement of glass worn on the body intrigued her enough to investigate further.
Jane uses borosilicate glass, also comonly known as "Pyrex" glass, and a technique called "flame-working", to make glass jewelry. Pyrex is one of the strongest forms of glass. Pyrex and Flame-working is primarily a scientific glass technique, used to make beakers and other scientific glassware. It is also more commonly known for its household cookware, which can withstand the heat of a direct flame on a stovetop, or in an oven.
The "Flame-working" technique is most easily described as similar to welding metal. With glass blowing the glass is liquid molten hot and there are blowpipes, and a large furnace to melt the glass. With the flame-working technique, the glass material comes in rods and tubes. Jane uses Pyrex glass rods, and a torch, stretching and bending shapes, freeform, and then fuses each piece individually. In working this way, she is able to get more intricate designs, than with glass blowing. The design possibilities are endless. The material glass, continues to inspire Jane, unlike any other material.
