In 1970, at 17, Jane flew away from her twin sister Joan and parents in Rochester, New York to attend the University of Hawaii where she studied English, art, and dance. In the 24 years that followed, Jane lived, studied, and taught in Hawaii, Italy, Sri Lanka, Tennessee, Ohio, and Illinois casually practicing her art along the way.

In 1994 Jane, her husband Monty Zukowski, and soon their daughter Anastasia  moved onto Woodland Sun, an 80 acre woodland homestead on the edge of the Applegate Valley in Southern Oregon. Here she set up her studio in the shop and Monty Zukowski built her a kiln.

Living in the woods and attending community ceramics classes spurred Jane’s interest in wood-fired ceramics which led to her Hiroshi Ogawa and his traditional Japanese anagama kiln in Elkton, Oregon in 2013. At that time, Jane also started building sculptures inspired by her practice of yoga and mindfulness. Over the next five years she wood-fired her sculptures with Ogawa and his teams of wood-fire potters. Sadly this came to an end in 2018 with Ogawa retiring from wood-firing. Since then Jane has been experimenting with gas firing her sculptures in her own kiln, as well as seeking other wood-fire opportunities.