Jane began studying ceramics in Japan in 1993 and completed a BFA, majoring in Ceramics at the University of Tasmania, Australia. She was selected as an Associate at the Jam Factory Craft and Design Centre in Adelaide in 1997 and has since exhibited throughout Australia and internationally.
Jane’s observation, connection to place and environmental awareness has led her to produce work on issues like climate change’s impact on marine environments and the reestablishment of Spotted Handfish spawning habitat.
In 2018 Jane began a commission with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to design and make ceramic artificial spawning habitat (ASH) for the spotted handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus). These installations were deployed by CSIRO divers into ‘ASH fields’ to support this critically endangered marine species. Creating ceramic ASH is a significant ongoing project which intersects her ceramic art practice with current scientific research and practice. In 2018 the first wild spawning of the spotted handfish around ceramic ASH was witnessed.
She has since actively pursued art/science collaborative projects in habitat and threated species support in clay. These projects include collaborating with little penguin ecologists in Tasmania and South Australia for design and creation of innovative ceramic nesting burrows. With this work she supports both science research in burrow design and has developed links to philanthropy.
From 2021 to 2023 Jane designed and created 1100 ceramic razorfish shell forms for a collaborative project with Australia’s Kangaroo Island Landscape Board, which are installed in the marine environment. This project aims to restore two sub-tidal native oyster reefs and has become part of a national initiative to restore shellfish reefs in Australian waters.
Jane has become known for pioneering a ceramics art/design practice centred around creating functional forms in species support which embody creative problem solving, functionality and compassion for the non-human world.