Jane Dahmen is a Maine-based landscape painter whose expansive, large-scale canvases transform the rivers, woods, and tidal landscapes of midcoast Maine into immersive fields of color and intuition. A Colby College graduate who settled along the Damariscotta River in Newcastle, Jane Dahmen has spent more than five decades developing a practice that moves fluidly between observation and abstraction, letting color, line, and surface evolve as each painting takes on its own life.
Drawing inspiration from the natural rhythms of birches and rivers, and shaped by decades of conversation with major American artists, Jane Dahmen approaches the canvas as a space of freedom rather than depiction. Represented by Portland Art Gallery, her work invites viewers into landscapes that become portals for something more interior.
What does Jane Dahmen mean when she says she finds a river hidden in every one of her paintings?