Jane Bunge-Noffke received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and did graduate work at Eastern Michigan University. She has created art for thirty years. Bunge-Noffke's sculptures, photographs and drawings have exhibited throughout the United States and in Mexico, Russia, France, Germany, Canada, China, and New Zealand. Her works are in numerous collections including the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC and the Smithsonian Institute for the White House. Her work was chosen by the United Nations Womens Conference to go on world tour.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bunge-Noffke's work in mural painting and photography led her to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as an outstanding Artistic Excellence Scholarship from the University of Wisconsin. Bunge-Noffke's exploration of different media and the distinct qualities they contribute to the interpretation and representation of the human figure led her to work in clay. For the past 15 years she has worked exclusively in clay, casting her sculptures in bronze.
Bunge-Noffke prefers not to work from models instead depending on intuitive memory and process. Her compassion for humanity make her bronze scuptures insightful observations about the meaning of life. Bunge-Noffke's art speaks of the human condition balancing the physical, psychological and spiritual dimension of human life with a palpable tension that is displayed in her figures' taut muscularity. Her work addresses themes of love, family, war, hope, betrayal, famine, pride... from everyday moments to some of the difficult challenges our world faces today. Says Art Critic John Carlos Cantu: "Ultimately, all of Bunge-Noffke's art indeed speaks of the human condition. And each sculpture in turn optimistically reveals a strength that suffuses her exhibits with a deep sense of pride of being. Bunge-Noffke's pride in the human spiriit -- and her joy in sculpting our sheer physicality -- make her bronze sculptures powerful metaphors about the meaning of life." He continues, the "artist leads a sculpture renaissance" taking her place with "modern masters leading a resurgence in representative bodily form. And what Bunge-Noffke gets out of her efforts is a revelation."
