Jane 360

Tonight I attended an art show called Jane 360. An eclectic group of female artists joined together to show their work to the art enthusiasts of Des Moines. The inaugural exhibit, See Jane Make Art, was held in the former Northwestern Hotel, located in the East Village. There was a wide range of creations including photography, printmaking, paintings, and mixed media. It was great to see a show made up of only female artists. The paintings of Larassa Kabel and Steph Van Dorn were out of this world. Both of these women have such extreme talent. If I had 1/10 of their talent I would be happy. I could stand and look at their pieces for hours. Kathy Tran's mixed media pieces also excited me. My favorite piece was Madonna and Cat, carved out of wood and then painted, this cartoonistic piece made me smile. The piece that really blew me away though was by Brooke Howard. On the front of an old medicine cabinet was a self portrait of Brooke wrapped in a white sheet, standing in an old porcelain tub, looking out the window. When you opened the door to the cabinet there was a shrine of all kinds of wonderful finds...Religious figures, skulls, poems, pictures of family members...it was amazing. I look forward to their next show and I hope that this adds fire to the art scene in Des Moines. Art is so important and we need to embrace all of this talent and support it. Kudos to Jane 360 for doing an all female show and sharing their amazing talent with Des Moines.