In the Waterfall by Jane Tingle Broderick was created during a time when pastel, oil painting, and watercolor were mediums that captured her focus. The forested environment of her home in Western Massachusetts called out to her to draw with bursts of energetic color that seemed to emanate from the land and overstory. A series of women in settings within the forest and its creeks emerged where the energetic quality of figure and ground merged. Each image links to stories or narratives that are sometimes surprising lessons for personal growth or deeper understanding of truth that is difficult to access with words. Creating from a place of truth and honesty she hopes the eventual audience will be able to tap into the image through their own experiences, their own story.
Jane Tingle Broderick grew up in Long Island where the museums and galleries of NYC fed her passion. She studied art as a teenager with artists who also mentored her to assist them in teaching art to young children. She became a studio assistant for a sculptor and then studied art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. A deep desire to experience more of nature led her and her husband to Western Massachusetts where she exhibited widely from 1980 through 2003. In Massachusetts she also wrote an art column for a local paper. During this time she became a finalist (1981) and then recipient (1982) of the Massachusetts State Artist Fellowships. Also, during the late 90s she embarked on a career path to become an early childhood educator, a field with great potential to bring opportunities for creativity to many people who may otherwise lack these experiences.
In this role as an educator Broderick came to East Tennessee State University to teach in the Early Childhood Program and have helped develop the program into a department. Living in this area of Appalachia, the southern end of the trail she was near in her previous home, allows her to still be surrounded by nature and an abundance of experiences within the local culture that feed her creative juices. Bluegrass and Old-Time music, the mountains, the traditions of gardening, growing and using herbs, and the tradition of quilt work are aspects of the culture she loved in the Northeast and continue to love within this new context in Tennessee.