Jane Sauer

Jane Sauer had her first art studio at the age of seven when her father gave her a room in his doctor’s office to use as her own. Sauer graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 1959, where she trained in various media. The artist first encountered the fiber arts movement in 1972 when she purchased Jack Lenor Larsen and Mildred Constantine’s book Beyond Craft: The Art of Fabric. This book exposed her to the wide range of forms that could be created from fabric. Six years later, Sauer was bedridden with a back injury and taught herself how to make baskets out of waxed linen. The artist’s pieces reflect her life as a mother to her children and as a productive, professional artist. Sauer’s closed baskets symbolize these different roles, evoking the sheltering environment of the womb and the “personal space” that all artists require to create their work.