Jane graduated from the University of Tasmania in 1998 with a Bachelor of Fine Art (Hons). She dabbled in an artist's studio for a year before undertaking a postgraduate Diploma of Art Curatorship and Museum Management at the University of Melbourne. Originally she intended to find part-time work in museums and galleries to support a career as an artist, however an interest in curating soon took over.
“After I graduated, I accepted a position as a Collection Manager of the City of Melbourne's Art and Heritage Collection. This was an exciting and challenging few years, which laid the foundations for my career."
“The collection was extensive and eclectic, including Melbourne's outdoor fountains, public art and memorials, mayoral robes and portraits, Moomba festival memorabilia, original town plans, and art. During this time, I learnt a lot about managing heritage collections while supervising the relocation of public artworks, the conservation of heritage-listed fountains, and launching a gallery in Melbourne's Town Hall."
“As much as I loved working with this collection, I wanted to change my focus from managing cultural heritage to curating works of art, and so I moved to Tasmania’s North West Coast to become Director of the Devonport Regional Gallery.”
Jane spent five years at the Gallery, where she curated and supervised over 20 exhibitions with particular focus on contemporary Tasmanian art. In 2005, she curated the exhibition From an island south, which included works by seven Tasmanian artists and toured to Pakistan, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand. She also instigated a solo commission program, and acquired works by over 30 Tasmanian artists and craftspeople to add to the Gallery's unique Tasmanian collection.
Since 2008, Jane has worked as Principal Curator of Art at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) where she manages a collection of over 20,000 art works. Last year, she co-curated C20: 100 years of Australian art form the TMAG collection and was instrumental in establishing the Star/Dust contemporary artist program with Access Art. She is currently developing exhibitions, which will be launched to mark the opening of the TMAG redevelopment in December 2012.