Mary Jane Allen Armstrong was born in New London, Wisconsin and is a lifelong Wisconsin resident. She studied printmaking as a young undergraduate at UW-Madison. She left school for 15 years while she raised her children. She started, owned and operated The Dahle House Bed & Breakfast in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin in the 80’s and 90’s. She always enjoyed being creative at home and began making clay and wire jewelry. While signing her youngest up for summer school, she saw a brochure for the local technical college. It listed a jewelry course and that changed everything. She started her Art Metals education at Madison Area Technical College in 2001 under the instruction of Agnes Chwae. She returned that fall to UW-Madison and studied Art Metals under Fred Fenster and Lisa Gralnick.
Mary Jane joined artist collective, WestWing Studios, in Verona, Wisconsin in 2006. In 2008, the studio buildings were torn down and she moved her studio to the beautiful Mendota Mental Health Institute campus. There, with Dagny Quisling Myrah, she started NorthEdge Studios, an artist collective providing studio space for 7 artists. Artists provide art instruction and opportunities for the MMHI patients in return for a partial barter for rent.
Although you can find examples of her work in many metals, Mary Jane’s preferred metal medium is Aluminum. She once used if for a prototype and fell in love with its light, bright and white qualities. She finds that the low cost makes it even more attractive and has worked almost exclusively in reclaimed aluminum since 2008 and continues working on a series of work known as ALLenAluminum.
With her children grown, she continues to live in Madison with her husband, create art jewelry and work with patients at MMHI.
Education and Experience
Madison Area Technical College, Madison WI - Art Metals
University of Wisconsin, Madison WI - Art Metals
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
Assistant to Professor Fred Fenster
Eagle School of Madison, Madison WI
Assistant to Art Teacher, Bambi Maloney
Badger Prairie Mental Health Care, Art Facilitator/Instructor
Mendota Mental Health Institute, Art Facilitator/Instructor
Wisconsin Grow Academy, Art Facilitator/Instructor
Metal Me Studio LLC, Owner, Manager, Metalsmith
Galleries, Shops, Shows, Awards
Hardy Gallery, Door County, Wisconsin 2016
Form Follows Function: The Intersection of Art and Craft- Exhibitor
Cappaert Gallery, Egg Harbor, Wisconsin, 2016
Jewels By The Sea, San Diego, CA 2014-Present
Mendocino Sandpiper, Mendocino, CA 2015-Present
Kong Lung Trading Company, Kilauea, HI 2016-Present
The Century House Gift Shop, Madison Wisconsin 2006-Present
Gallery Night Featured Artist 2007 & 2013
UW Hospital & Clinics Galleries, Madison, WI
Exhibitor 2012, 2014 & 2016
Museum of The Shenandoah Valley, Winchester VA 2014
Second Time Around Hub Cap Art, Landfillart(.org) Project
Absolutely Art, Madison, WI 2006-2014
Chazen Art Museum Gift Shop, Madison, WI 2014-Present
BENE Award Ministry and Liturgy Magazine 2005
Overture Center Galleries, WestWing Studios, Verona, Wi
Open Art Studios 2007
Bio
Metal Me Studio LLC
MJAA@MetalMeStudio.com
November 2016
Mary Jane Allen Armstrong, Metalsmith