the Mona Lisa Project
Jana Swec
Born in Berkley California in 1978, Jana Swec received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in 2001. Jana moved to Austin in 2001 to an eastside warehouse, now Big Medium Studios (formerly Bolm Studios). Partnering up with Joseph Phillips and Shea Little, the three founded the East Austin Studio Tour, Texas Biennial and the SODALITAS art collective. SODALITAS has received several awards for their work with the community, including an Austin Critics Awards Art for Community Leadership.
Jana Swec finds inspiration in nature. The lines of her pen and ink drawings undulate across the paper, creating intricate, abstracted forms of merging trees, root structures, and elephants' trunks and legs. Both creatures share a sense of kindred family relationships, a desire to live closely among each other in herds or forests. They'll experience periods of flourishing and periods of challenge. Their limbs grow and fill out. Their family members emerge over time. Making art about nature is more an act of appreciation for all of the enrichment it gives us.
© Rino Pizzi 2010