Jane Ohara

My work is centered on our complex relationship with animals. I am both intrigued and disturbed by our insensitivity to animals raised in captivity versus the casting of human traits on our pampered pets. My paintings create an unnatural stage for the animals' situation to point out people's tendency to impose their own agenda. The bubble, the empty road and the pedestal serve as metaphor for how the animal is separated from its natural intended life.
Currently I am in the midst of a series called State of the Union. The series will include the 50 states as a way to examine the exploitation of animals in each state alongside the desirable, fun image that state would like to project. The completed series will exhibit at the New Bedford Art Museum's Heritage Gallery, 2023. My curatorial projects exist alongside my studio practice trusting in the power of the visual arts to give voice to the voiceless.

Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, BFA, 1978
Curatorial Certification from the Sotheby's Institute of Art

Solo exhibitions
2020 STATE OF THE UNION, Hatfield Gallery, Adams State University, Alamosa, CO
2019 SOLO SHOW, The William Scott Gallery, Provincetown, MA
2012 CONSIDER THE BEAST South Rotunda Gallery, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA
2009 ANIMAL ATTRACTION Gallery 55, Natick, MA
Exhibition Curator
2021 Fifth Trust co-curated virtual exhibition with Janell O'Rourke and 13 artists incl curators
2020 FORGET ME NOT, a virtual solo exhibition, Compassion Arts Festival 2020
2017 BEASTS OF BURDEN Pop-Up (curator and exhibitor), O’Hara Projects, 208 E 73rd St New York, NY
2014 BEASTS OF BURDEN (curator and exhibitor), Unbound Visual Arts + New Art Center at Harvard Education Portal, Boston, MA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021 SELECTED WORKS; INSIDE VOICES, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
2021 INSIDE VOICES, ArtsWorcester, Worcester, MA
2020 IN TRANSITION, Arts Worcester, Worcester, MA
2018 WHO SAVED WHO?, New Bedford Art Museum, Heritage Gallery New Bedford, MA
2017-2021 SUMMER SHOW, The William Scott Gallery, Provincetown, MA
2016 FRIDGE ART FAIR MIAMI BEACH, The Betsy, Miami, FL