Jane Marsching 85F Combines a Passion for Sustainability with a Thriving Art Practice

We talked to her about how Hampshire impacted her life’s work.

What originally attracted you to the College?

Out of all the colleges I got into, Hampshire was the one that interested me the most. I don’t feel like I understood what I was getting myself into, but I’m super grateful I ended up there.

What did you study? Did it change from your first year through your last?

I knew I wanted to be an artist. Before Hampshire, I had done mostly crafts — silkscreening, batik, pottery, weaving . . . no photography. Photographer Emmet Gowen came to campus and gave a lecture and that was it for me. I was utterly persuaded. I fell in love with photography and the community within the photography building and the professors.

I didn’t realize how much I wanted to be in an educational system in which I could shape the direction I wanted to go; I also didn’t know how hard it would be. My Natural Science Div I was a shitshow, but learning that way made a part of who I am come to life.

Did you have any professors who were especially helpful or inspirational?

Carrie Mae Weems (photography) was hugely influential. Also Sandra Matthews and Abe Ravett (both film and photography), Robert Meagher, and Professor of Art History Sura Levine are the ones who come to mind.

What did you do for your Div III?

It was half about images of women in Greek mythology and half about exploring women’s images of themselves. I took photographs of people getting dressed, putting on makeup, bathing — being in their private spaces. I was thinking in that late-1980s way about how images have shaped how we construct our self-image and sense of beauty.

Can you talk about your current art practice?

Even though I did my undergrad and graduate work in photography, my practice works across a wide range of mediums. I like to learn new ones all the time. I’ll typically start with a place and think about the key cultural, historical, scientific, and social stories it holds and how they shape the humans and other-than-humans who live in that place.

Then, I’ll reach out to different kinds of communities in that place. For example, I was invited to be an artist in residence at the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University by a professor who is also a climate activist. One of his Ph.D. students wanted to do a science project measuring the amount of CO2 in the “hot air of academia” as it’s exhaled from the ventilation system of the building. She wanted to know if that carbon dioxide could be captured to create a closed-loop system. She ended up growing spinach on the building’s roof to see if it would grow more quickly under the vents. My contribution was turning a science experiment into a social space for people to gather and to consider that this type of rooftop garden, powered by CO2 from the building below it, could happen on any rooftop in Boston. I also brought in people who are working on rooftop farming as a way to address food access.

I’ve done other place-based projects, at Fruitlands Museum, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, and the Blue Hill Observatory, a weather observatory near Boston.

And you’re also a teacher at MassArt!

Yes, I was hired to teach first-year students in our Studio Foundations program. Fifteen years ago I also became the sustainability fellow and developed a sustainability minor. I work across the curriculum of the college to support, expand, and amplify sustainability in every department. I also work nationally as part of the Partnership for Academic Leadership in Sustainability, which is promoting and developing curricula and institutional change in sustainability in higher ed art and design.

Please talk about the project you’re doing with the Public Art Accelerator.

The program is a series of workshops that started in September 2025 and runs through the end of January. The Boston Public Art Triennial is trying to cultivate a community of public art and artists in Boston.

My project is looking at the Boston urban tree canopy and its relationship to equity. I’m thinking about the urban forest not just as ecosystem provider and object, but also as a network of relations that care for us and that we care for.

I’m doing the project in a neighborhood of Boston called Hyde Park, which is where I live. There’s already a lot of work being done by local community organizations to address the unequal distribution of trees across neighborhoods that are considered environmental justice communities, those that have experienced historic marginalization, so I’m working with them and amplifying, supporting, and furthering their work using contemporary art. I’m creating a series of flags and banners for the urban forest that will hang in the center of Hyde Park’s business district and also on the trees themselves. I’m also working on planting trees and connecting the community to avenues for planting trees themselves. We’re creating a culture of care for the urban trees, which are getting cut down in Hyde Park at a much greater rate than in the rest of the city.

Anything else you’d like us to know?

I just want to say that I’m very proud to be a Hampshire alum.