In Memory
Jane Rosen 1950 -2025
Jane Rosen, the renowned American artist, educator, writer and polymath passed away on April 18, 2025, in Northern California, surrounded by her loving family and friends. Born in New York City on April 6, 1950, she rose to prominence as a singular multimedia sculptor whose work gave modernist form to the timeless rhythms of the natural world—rhythms she sensed in everything around her, from the slow rise of Pacific waves that shape a nautilus shell to the wing of a red-tailed hawk riding the coastal wind. “I can hear form,” she would say.
A truly bi-coastal artist, Jane spent her formative years living and working in the SoHo of 1970s New York City, immersed in a tight-knit community of artists who would go on to shape the landscape of contemporary art. Among her dearest lifelong friends were Judy Pfaff, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Susan Walp, Paul Reynard, Deborah Shaffer and many others whose names are etched into art history.
Jane earned her B.A. from New York University in 1972 and continued her studies at the Art Students League with Robert Beverly Hale, sparking a lifelong connection to Leonardo da Vinci and other great masters. Her command of Renaissance technique, Eastern philosophy, and material science inspired her to experiment and invent. From Portuguese marble and Seattle glass to Provençal limestone, surfboard resin, and coastal willows, she engineered new materials and sculptural structures entirely her own.
While her time in New York informed much of her work, it was the California coast that became the true catalyst for it —and her forever home. A single visit to a rural property in San Gregorio was enough to draw her away from life in Manhattan and into one lived among ravens, foxes, vultures, bobcats, hawks, blue jays, owls, and acorn woodpeckers. She spent the rest of her life there—working and living in deep communion with the land, helping us reconnect with nature through art, and through it, with our own better nature.
Jane’s ability to integrate philosophy, history, science, nature and art was magnetic. But it was her boundless generosity of spirit that attracted and shaped thousands of lives and fostered lasting fellowships. Students from coast to coast — her art children — remained devoted to her across decades; several became renowned artists and educators in their own right, amongst them Daniella Dooling, Celia Gerard and Joshua Hart. Her techniques continue to serve as the foundation of their own teaching. Yet Jane’s intention reached far beyond the art world: she was committed to sharing the power of visual literacy with everyone, training doctors, engineers, scientists, financiers to cultivate a refined intuition and a way of knowing rooted in deep, sensitive observation. She believed that “drawing yields to investigation,” and urged students to begin not with answers but with careful, attentive seeing—closely, patiently, and without assumption. “It is better,” she often said, “to have a strong question than a weak answer.” Jane’s faculty positions included U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Davis, Bard College, the Maryland Institute College of Art, LaCoste School of the Arts, the School of Visual Arts in New York, and Stanford University where she served as Senior Faculty and a Consulting Professorship. Among her many honors, she received the National Endowment for the Arts Sculpture Award.
Rosen’s work is featured in numerous public and private collections including The Brooklyn Museum, Scottsdale Museum of Art, Mitsubishi Corporation, Luso American Foundation, and the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia. She has been honored by the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City, the Pilchuck Glass School as an Artist-in-Residence, and is a recipient of the Madein/Luso American Foundation Grant. She published a book called “Dual Nature” with Pointed Leaf Press in 2021.
Rosen was represented by numerous galleries around the United States including Gaines Peyton and Macie Sears at Sears Peyton Gallery in both New York, New York, and Los Angeles, California; Bill Traver and Sarah Traver at Traver Gallery, Seattle, Washington; Gail Severn at Gail Severn Gallery in Sun Valley, Idaho; Maya Frodeman and Katie Franklin Cohn at Maya Frodeman Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming; Bill Traver and Sarah Traver at Traver Gallery, Seattle, Washington; Chris Winfield at Winfield Gallery in Carmel, California and Michael Steinberg at Bienvenu Steinberg & C. in New York, New York.
Her recent solo exhibition “Variegated Stones” closed on April 5, 2025 at Bienvenu Steinberg & C. in New York and her work will be included in the upcoming exhibition "The Ark" at The Church in Sag Harbor, curated by artist Eric Fischl, opening June 21, 2025. This forthcoming international, historic exhibition epitomizes Jane’s spirit and her New York roots.
Jane was known for her New York sense of humor, her fantastical yet true stories, and for her insatiable love for friends, family and life. Many were privileged to know Jane, work with her, and love her. She is survived by her brother Joe Rosen, daughter Lila Tretikov, niece Samantha Royalty, nephew Max Rosen, grandson Max Tretikov and godson Noah Brick, and her care companions Lety Pemberton, Edith and Eduardo Marin. She is predeceased by her mother, Norma Rosen, and her father, Mel Rosen, both of whom she loved dearly.
Jane loved all animals in her life. Mayo, Mei Mei, Rookie, Bookie, Mei Rose, Puma, Thomas, Cash and Negrita will forever live on in the memories of those close to Jane through countless stories. A singular force for good on behalf of the natural world, Jane worked, taught, advocated, and lived to restore our connection to nature and animals. In recent years, she supported the protection of more than two million acres of Indigenous-led land conservation in tropical forests, in partnership with the nonprofit Art into Acres, founded by one of her students.
The 40-acre hilltop sanctuary that was her California home will become a place for artists to gather and work among the ancient redwoods and a monument to her life’s work. A celebration of her life and her ethos will be announced at a later date. Donations can be made to Hearts for Paws Rescue of California in her memory.
"Rosen's work is influenced by the forms perceived in those moments prior to complete recognition -- what is seen before pattern, color, and shape indicate some figure or formation -- which serves to engage viewers in negotiating the relationship between perception and cognition."
- Patricia C. Phillips, Artforum
