"Featuring techniques for assemblage and surface alterations never before seen in a mixed-media art book (kit-bashing, wiring, egg-shell texture, casting and more), Altered Curiosities offers a new twist on a hot topic.

A fresh variety of projects (such as hair barrettes, jewelry, a drawer pull and a bird feeder) prove that artistic assemblage and collage styles can be expressed beyond wall art.

Readers will learn a new storytelling approach to their mixed-media art. Altered Curiosities goes beyond construction techniques to help readers discover how to create a personal narrative with objects and visually tell a story, not just infuse a piece with meaning or symbolism.

Two very important things make this book stand out from the crowd of other collage, mixed-media and assemblage titles: the projects (full of oddities and the unexpected) and the techniques--several of which have never been published before. A common element of Jane Wynn's style is to find an object, break it and put it together again (sometimes more than once), and she loves using anthropomorphic associations to tell stories in her projects. Step by step, readers will learn her unique method and her sought-after techniques. Along with surface alterations (faux-aging, patinas and the use of unusual household products) Altered Curiosities teaches metal etching with rubber stamps, simple wiring to create dramatic lighting, instruction for altering simple toy figures (making two-headed animals, for instance) and more."

Jane Wynn was born in Baltimore, Maryland on a cold day in December, 1969. She grew up making art as her focus and passion. As a graduate from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 1995, with a Bachelors of Fine Art, she continued on with her education and received her Masters of Fine Art at Towson University in 1997 with a degree in Interrelated Media. In 2000 having just completed her degree, she began to teach art at Towson University and the Community Colleges of Baltimore County. Teaching has been a passion and in 2002 both she and Thomas began to venture off to teach at workshops all over the country. Since this time, they have traveled quite a bit and have met many wonderful students and fellow teachers along the way.

She and Thomas live in Baltimore, Maryland with their two cats, some fish, and a very sassy mint green scooter which they like to take for quick trips on weekends to the local coffee spots in town.

Contact me: jane@wynnstudio.com

Jane Wynn is a mixed-media artist who exhibits throughout the United States. Working with a diversity of mediums from metals to wood, from fiber to found objects, she creates art with a curious narrative. Her work has appeared in several books and magazines, and she has been featured on Internet radio and television. Jane earned her Masters in Fine Art from Towson University and has taught foundation art classes at colleges and universities in Maryland. She currently teaches a variety of techniques in jewelry design, mixed media and assemblage art at workshops around the country.