Artist Profile: Jane Biven

Spontaneous Outpourings of Color and Movement

By Ellen Samsell Salas

With kitchen spatulas, cement spreaders, and a propane torch at the ready, and classical, rock, or R&B music adding to her creative mood, epoxy resin artist Jane Biven is ready to mix, pour, and create. Quickly, before the resin can dry, she fashions an abstract array of bold and brilliant colors that seem to explode from the wooden “canvas.”

“I turn everything else off when I go into my studio to create. It’s an incredible psychological exercise, a renewing experience,” Biven said. “It re-energizes me; it’s my reset button.”

The process of creating epoxy resin paintings demands that the artist let go and trust in the process of pouring liquid on a surface. Epoxy resin starts as a liquid that comes in two parts. When combined, these liquid parts become a solid, glass-like, clear sheet.

Preferring to create her own vibrant colors, Biven adds acrylic paint, various inks, and pigment powders to the liquid epoxy. She pours on wood because epoxy tends to run to the center of a traditional canvas, where it would pool and cause the canvas to sag.

“You have to move at a fast pace. You can’t just kick back,” she added. “It’s mental; it’s physical; it’s spiritual. I didn’t discover this until I found my passion for art.”

Finding her passion had unlikely roots. Biven was looking for something unique for new bathroom counters and became intrigued by resin because the results can look like a kaleidoscope, a vivid sunset, rivers of color, or abstract bursts of vibrant hues when pigments are added.

“I discovered epoxy resin, and that was the turning point. I loved it, the results, the whole process, and I just started experimenting,” she recalled.

After saying goodbye to her career in restaurant management and having no formal training in art, in 2012, Biven embraced her new passion.

“I love a challenge, and I love uncharted territory. I love to explore and research, so I sought any information I could find on epoxy, even how it is used in manufacturing,” said Biven.

That willingness to explore and the friendships she forged with local artists led to her full-time pursuit of art. She now has a catalog of works that includes not only her large resin pieces, but also river tables where a frame of live-edge wood surrounds a center of colored resin, mixed media paintings, geode sculptures and tables, and towels, pillows, and duvet covers with resin artwork printed on the fabric.

Prior to COVID-19, Biven’s epoxy resin art workshops, which she teaches in her home studio, were booked solid. And although her epoxy resin works make up the majority of her sales, Biven says that her mixed media paintings are her favorite.

“I’m drawn to patina and texture. I love picking bizarre materials and trying to layer things together,” she said. “I have the freedom to experiment. I can try anything from aluminum foil to cement to cheesecloth. It’s the experimental journey that keeps me going.”

Having sold over 900 pieces, Biven extensively exhibits her art. Her works are currently on display in hotels, hospitals, and private homes from Florida to New York.

“I use energy to create my art, and I like to think that the energy becomes part of the piece, and that people feel that energy and are moved by it,” said Biven.

For more information about Biven’s work, please call, email, or visit her website.

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