Jane Gilmor

Jane Gilmor (born June 23, 1947) is an American intermedia artist and educator known for her work in performance art, installation art, and social practice. She is associated with the "Iowa School" of experimental art that emerged from the University of Iowa's Intermedia Program under Hans Breder in the 1970s. Gilmor is a Professor Emeritus at Mount Mercy University.

Her work is characterized by the use of embossed metal foil, found objects, and humor to critique social structures, particularly regarding women, labor, and migration. She has been an affiliated member of A.I.R. Gallery in New York City since 1985.

Biography Gilmor was born in Ames, Iowa. She attended Iowa State University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Textile Design in 1969. She subsequently attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) before returning to Iowa to earn a Master of Arts in Teaching (1973) and a Master of Fine Arts (1977) from the University of Iowa.

Her role in the 1970s feminist art movement is documented in the biographical dictionary Feminists Who Changed America, 1963–1975, which describes her as a "leader in the women’s art movement of the 1970s in the Midwest and nationally." As a graduate student, she traveled to the Woman's Building in Los Angeles to exhibit video work and to New York City to organize exhibitions centered on goddess imagery. During this time, she was a peer of Ana Mendieta. While both artists utilized body-centric performance and goddess iconography, art historian Joy Sperling notes that Gilmor distinguished her work by incorporating satire and humor into these themes.

Gilmor began her teaching career at Mount Mercy University (then Mount Mercy College) in 1973, where she introduced the institution's first women's studies courses, including "Women's Art History" and "Art, Gender and Politics." Artifacts from this project, including the "Official Score Card," were later archived and featured in Cabinet magazine.

Installations and materiality In the 1980s and 1990s, Gilmor began using industrial aluminum foil and metal repoussé as a primary medium, covering furniture, rooms, and architectural elements in embossed metal skins. This technique was noted by art historian Joy Sperling as a method of "satirizing the search for meaning" while creating "shrines to the ordinary." Bed/Shoe/Home (2017): A project focused on housing insecurity in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, created while she was a Miller Endowed Scholar at the University of Illinois.

Exhibitions and collections Gilmor's work has been exhibited extensively in the United States and internationally. She has been an affiliated member of A.I.R. Gallery in New York since 1985. Un(Seen) Work, Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA (2010).

Collections Her work is held in numerous permanent collections, including: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago McKnight Foundation Interdisciplinary Fellowship (1996–1997). Tanne Foundation Award (2011). Fulbright Senior Scholar, University of Évora, Portugal (2003).