“My art focuses on the intersection of artistic expression, science, food, farming and sustainable agriculture, while also exploring issues of social justice and healing. I feel that much of life is spent remembering what we already know. Art is a pathway to that remembering.

Materials come from my farm; wool from the sheep, paper made of weeds or apples, pigment from walnuts, hedge trees, herbs and soil, and wax from the bees for encaustic. Making the paint and fiber is as important as making the image. I also see nature as a collaborator, not as a resource to be exploited.

In a series of recent projects, working with time and with soil to explore the process of decomposition has revealed a beauty in a process that is often hidden from view. I approach nature, art and science with humility and a willingness to dwell in the unknown.”

Rhonda Janke has an MFA in Interdisciplinary art from Goddard College, and and M.S. and Ph.D. in Agronomy from Cornell University. She is interested in the intersection of art and science, and is actively pursuing that interface in her teaching and extension position at Kansas State University and in the art she creates in the world.