Biography

Jane Robinette launched the Iowa Women Artists Oral History Project in the first half of 1998. Names for the original mailing were gathered from several sources, including the Iowa Arts Council artists' directory, recommendations from artist friends and relatives, lists from galleries, and art exhibits. This letter, sent to over 100 women, stated general criteria for the interviewees, namely women visual artists who were age 30 or older, who had lived in Iowa for at least the past five years (or who previously lived in Iowa for several years and recently returned), and who considered art their major activity or vocation (including the teaching of art).

As the interviewing progressed, many of the artists also suggested more names, which resulted in further mailings. While the initial hope was to interview nearly all women visual artists in Iowa, it quickly became clear that this would be impossible-even when limiting the types of artwork included. In the end, seventy-nine women were interviewed. Two artists later withdrew from the project after receiving copies of their transcripts.

Those interviewed represent a fair cross-section of artwork, location, and age, but regrettably racial and ethnic diversity is limited. Some of this is inherent in the makeup of Iowa's population; some is due to interviewee self-selection (not responding to or declining the invitation to participate); some is due to the project's limited resources, time, and ability to locate artists.

Jane Robinette was born and raised in Des Moines, living most of her life in Iowa. She grew up surrounded by art and art-making, as her mother and aunt were visual artists. She began writing poetry and prose and enjoying visual creative activities as a young child.

After earning a B.A. in social work from the University of Northern Iowa, Robinette was coordinator of two community-based organizations in Iowa, and was an editorial assistant and copy editor at a small press in Michigan. She received her J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law, and in 1990, she began her employment as a law clerk, and later staff attorney, for the federal district court in Des Moines. She left her law job in April 1998 to begin the Iowa Women Artists Oral History Project and to do more creative work on her own.

In the 1990s, Robinette began creating "poem-paintings"-works on paper combining watercolor or acrylic paint and her poetry. In her travels, she saw first-hand the gender gap still present in the collections of many museums-this reinforced her belief in the need for projects like the Iowa Women Artists Oral History Project. She has a long-time interest in oral history, believing that the telling and recording of life stories can be a meaningful and illuminating experience for both the narrator and the interviewer.

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