Artist Statement
 

I am a mixed-media and installation artist creating large-scale works that explore joy, memory, and transformation. Inspired by personal experiences and a deep connection to nature, my practice emphasizes moments of happiness through vivid, hyperbolic forms. Each installation becomes a meditation on resilience and the pursuit of joy, highlighting intentionality, gratitude, mindfulness, and self-care as pathways to meaningful connection. These works act as a counterbalance to adversity, framing joy as both an essential human need and a shared communal experience.

My process is rooted in reclaiming and repurposing materials, transforming what is discarded into monumental artworks. The imperfections of these materials are integral to the final pieces, symbolizing the resilience and beauty found in impermanence and change. By using techniques traditionally associated with women’s work, I bridge the tactile and the monumental, celebrating the power of small, deliberate actions to create something larger than the sum of its parts.

While my identity as a bisexual woman, mother, and wife informs my perspective, my work reaches beyond personal narrative to address universal themes of transformation and empowerment. Joy, for me, is an act of creation and resistance—a celebration of possibility that reclaims spaces and reimagines boundaries.

Through sculpture, installation, and two-dimensional studies, I explore the tension between vulnerability and strength, presenting joy as an essential and radical force. My work invites viewers to pause, reflect, and rediscover wonder, encouraging a shared appreciation for the transformative potential of creativity.

Bio

Jane Cheek was born in Winston-Salem, NC and earned a BA in Art Studies from NC State University. She later obtained a K-12 Visual Arts Education certification from East Carolina University. Self taught in installation art, Cheek combines her interest in painting, sculpture, and textiles to create work that is both monumental and delicate.

Cheek’s work includes commissions at the North Carolina Museum of Art, outdoor art installations for Artsplosure and Downtown Raleigh Alliance, and a large-scale, immersive installation for IBMA Live! - an international bluegrass festival in Raleigh, NC. She currently has a solo installation exhibition at Waterworks Visual Arts Center, the contemporary art museum in Salisbury, NC and has upcoming exhibits at Wilson Arts Center (Wilson, NC), The Arts Center (Carborro, NC), and Pullen Arts Center (Raleigh, NC).