Jane W. Conneen

"> Jane W. Conneen
Jane W. Conneen of Waynesville, N.C., passed away February 27, 2008. She was born in Montclair, N.J., April 19, 1921 and predeceased by her husband, Joseph L. Conneen in 2007. At the age of five months, Mrs. Conneen and her parents left for France, joining the tide of American expatriates in the early 1920s. Spending her childhood in France and Switzerland, she returned to the United States at age of 13 to attend the Masters School at Dobbs Ferry, New York, and the Scudder-Culver School in New York City. She studied painting with George Waller Parker and Emily Hatch, a student of William Merritt Chase. Jane was married in Moultrie, Ga., to Joseph Lawrence Conneen in May 1942, the day he received his wings in the Army Air Corps. They spent most of World War II in South Carolina, Florida and Georgia with Lieutenant (later Captain) Conneen, a Check Pilot, and later Commanding Officer of a Primary Training Field in the South Eastern Training Command. Two children, Mary Jane Conneen Sturgis and Joseph L. Conneen Jr., were born in South Carolina. A third child, Miriam Ann Mimi Conneen Miley, who predeceased her parents, was born in Bryn Mawr, Pa. When her youngest child went off to college, the Conneens purchased a very old stone farmhouse with some acreage, in Moore Township. That old farmhouse became her studio, and the start of a new career as an artist. Later on they built an architecturally wonderful home on the same property, where they lived for more than forty years. Starting with linocuts and life-sized pen and ink and watercolor botanical drawings, her works were soon rewarded by inclusion in the permanent collection of the Hunt Botanical Institute at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She also had a successful One-person Exhibit at Lehigh University, in Bethlehem. A doll house built for her mother in 1900 inspired some tiny paintings and opened up a whole new field of miniature work. A series of dollhouse-size etchings that received a Best of Show, and several other top awards from Miniature Art Societies, were included in an exhibit of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers, in London, England. She was elected a Fellow of the International Guild of Miniature Artisans. Later, she concentrated on small etchings, one to five inches image size (not limited to dollhouse size), and added many architectural schemes to the botanical subjects. At the time, she and her husband Joe participated in many of the top U.S. art exhibits in Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and the Northeast. Her final medium became miniature books, with her first book entitled The Winding Roads of Ireland. Printed by etching press, hand-coloured and hand bound, it received a Distinguished Book Award from the Miniature Book Society. Subsequent books resulted from trips to Europe, and interest in flowers and herbs. Her collection of miniature books, as well as her own books from The Little Farm Press, her sketch books and other memorabilia, will go to the Skillman Library at Lafayette College. Mrs. Conneen was a member of the Miniature Book Society, the Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Society of Washington, D.C., the Miniature Art Society of Florida, the Lehigh Valley Art Alliance, and numerous other book and printmaking societies. Survivors: Her daughter, Mary Jane Sturgis; her son, Joseph L. Conneen Jr., daughter-in-law, Mari Margaret Conneen of Waynesville, N.C.; sons-in-law John Christopher Sturgis of Media, and Larry Martin Miley, of Allentown;six grandchildren; ten great grandchildren. Services: There will be a celebration of Janes life at her sons home in Waynesville, N.C. on March 8, and another celebration in Bethlehem, at a later date to be announced in the Lehigh Valley Newspapers. An online guest registry may be signed at sponsored by the staff of Garrett Funerals and Cremations. Contributions: In lieu of flowers, send to Mimis Fund at the Allentown Art Museum, Fifth and Court Sts., Allentown, PA, 18015.