Artist Statement
I create art out of recycled paper. I reuse office paper, magazines, newspapers, phone books, and even coffee filters in order to create wall reliefs, sculptures, vases, and wearable art. To achieve that, I carefully sift and sort through a variety of paper to create a color palette. I then roll the paper into tubes which are the building blocks of my work. Through coiling and weaving, I can construct different shapes and varying levels of relief.
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Biography
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Eloa Jane, a Brazilian-born artist, immigrated to the US in 2005. In Brazil, she worked as an architect for 25 years and boasted an impressive portfolio, but despite the success, things were never easy. Weary from the economic obstacles in her country, she moved to the US to rebuild a life for herself and her children. The challenges in this new season once again brought out her artistic bent. Being in a new country, grasping a new language, and relearning how to perform the simplest of tasks, can easily make one feel inadequate. Eloa Jane suffered from the sort of ailments that afflict the soul more than the body. It is difficult to remain cheerful in the face of uncertainty about the future. Her struggle was an outlet, a means of processing through pain and grief. Art became more than a pastime. She emerged
with a heightened need to create and a sense that her happiness did not come from the pursuit of financial comfort and convenience. Instead, it came from filling her days with meaningfulness, resourcefulness, and self-actualization. With little money to buy supplies, she chose paper, specifically the piles of paper stuffed into mailboxes daily, as her way of creating art. That satisfied Eloa Jane’s need
to, in her own words, “find fulfillment in creating meanings rather than owning disposables.” Using an endless supply of trash, she can spread awareness while contributing to saving the earth’s resources with her art and lifestyle. The resulting work is instrumentalist in function, imploring the viewer to take stock of our wasteful practices, but at its core, it expresses a distinct sense of hopefulness about the future.
Her work has evolved in technique and meaning since then. Her first solo exhibition was in Massachusetts in 2008. In 2014 she established her studio in Mid-America Arkansas and had a turning point in her art career with her awarded series Neighbors and Neighborhood.
In 2020 and 2021 Eloa Jane has dedicated to researching Brazilian immigration in the US. The outcome will be a new series named Abroad: an In-Complete Journey, a collection of recycled paper reliefs, tapestries, and sculptures that chronicles the inner thoughts of immigrants as they embark on a lifechanging journey not only to a new country but to a new self. Like Eloa Jane herself.