Jane Dahmen is a Maine painter whose work reflects the beauty and resilience of midcoast Maine. In addition to her large-scale canvases, Jane has collaborated with ceramicists Alison Lauriat and Stephen Proctor, extending her painting practice onto their sculptural forms. By uniting painted surfaces with three-dimensional structure, she brings her lyrical vision to life in a new medium that echoes the natural rhythms of Maine.Walking near her Newcastle home or along the Damariscotta River, Jane finds inspiration everywhere. “My ideas begin in the natural world,” she says, “but once a work is underway, the paint on the flat surface takes on a life of its own, and the color, line, and surface texture evolve as I work.”Jane studied art history at Colby College, where she first sketched Maine’s rugged scenery and was influenced by Marsden Hartley and John Marin. After years of sailing the coast, she moved to Newcastle full-time in 2005. Whether evoking birch trees, tidal rivers, or the ocean’s islands, her art grows out of a direct encounter with Maine’s landscape. Blending observation with intuition, she creates works that are at once personal and universal.Beyond her studio, Jane has contributed to Maine’s creative community by previously hosting the “Talking Art in Maine” series at the Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta, where she interviewed artists such as Alex Katz, Lois Dodd, William Wegman, and Katherine Bradford. “I learned something from every one of them that I took into my studio,” she reflects.Through painting and collaboration, Jane continues to embrace curiosity, freedom, and reinvention. Her work offers viewers a profound connection to Maine’s spirit and landscape.Learn more about Jane’s art and philosophy on Radio Maine.