Jane was introduced to gourds in 2007 while still living in her home state of Kansas. An avid crafter who already had wood-carving skills, she became intrigued by another artist’s use of color and wood-burning techniques on gourds and began to develop these skills through classes and videos.

          As well as wood-burning, carving, painting and staining, Jane began to add coiling or twining to her gourds. Coiling became her favorite technique, and over time she developed a way to dye the cords to match the colors she uses on the gourds. She now uses an open coiling method allowing the flow of the cord to become part of the design. Her vividly colored, beautifully coiled gourds can be seen at various shows in the Portland area.

        Jane recently won Best of Advanced Division at the Missouri Show Me Gourd Art Festival. She placed third in a national gourd weaving competition sponsored by the American Gourd Society and her gourd art has been featured in the society's GOURD magazine.