Jane Ryan was born in Concord, New Hampshire in 1950, the fifth of seven children. Her father was a local housepainter who kept an easel rigged up in the back of his truck so he could paint landscapes in spare moments.

     Ryan began to explore her own interests as an artist after twenty years as a psychotherapist in rural Maine. She graduated from Emmanuel College in Boston in 1972 and got a master's in counseling in 1977. She took a drawing class in 1996, where she quickly found herself "desperate for color." Shortly thereafter, she began her life as a full-time artist.

     Ryan sees all organic form as landscape. Her work reflects her deep commitment to a rural life and landscape that seems to be disappearing. Her most recent works are paintings of places that she pastelled years ago, with a renewed focus on the emotional dynamic between geometry and color.

     Ryan's is represented by McGowan Fine Art Gallery in Concord, NH, and the Landing Gallery in Rockland, ME, and Woodbury, NY.

    Her work can also be seen at Maine Cottage Furniture in Yarmouth, ME, Charleston, SC, and West Palm Beach, FL.