By Molly Nagappala | Photo Courtesy Jane Wilcoxson
When her kindergarten teacher asked the class what they wanted to be when they grew up, Jane Wilcoxson had a ready answer: she wanted to be an artist. However, the teacher demanded she choose a different profession, since in 1960s England, career paths for women were rather limited. Wilcoxson refused to budge and never looked back.
When she grew up, she opted for the life of a British expat and relocated to the Chicago suburbs in 1990 with her American husband. But southern Wisconsin proved a magnet for her creative impulses. “Not only did it look like home—the Driftless Area—but my tribe was here,” Wilcoxson explained. “It’s full of artists, it’s a place where I feel comfortable.”
She bought her Mineral Point studio in 2014, and since then she has been gradually transitioning from Oswego, Illinois, to become a full-time Wisconsinite.
She chats easily with customers wandering through the inviting lofted gallery where her color-saturated oil pastel paintings, frequently featuring vivid landscapes or animals, line the walls. Prints are her “bread and butter,” Wilcoxson says, but her shop carries an array of eclectic jewelry, stoneware and accessories. Clearly delighting in her work, she describes being an artist as “bringing into the world that which does not currently exist…we are selling our magic.”
