Jane Haskell (24 November 1923 – 28 May 2013) was a

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

-based artist and philanthropist whose art focused on light. Her neon work "River of Light" was installed in the

Steel Plaza station Steel Plaza station is a station on the Pittsburgh Regional Transit's Pittsburgh Light Rail, light rail network, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It serves the city's Downtown Pittsburgh, Downtown district and is located at the intersection o ...

of Pittsburgh's 'T' system in 1984, which was commissioned by the

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (PCT) is a nonprofit arts organization formed in 1984 to promote economic and cultural development in Downtown Pittsburgh. The "Trust" has focused its work on a 14-square block section called the Cultural District, w ...

. She became a member of the

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbur ...

board in 1999, and was chosen as the 2006 Artist of the Year and exhibited by the

Pittsburgh Center for the Arts The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (PCA) is a non-profit community arts campus that offers arts education programs and contemporary art exhibitions in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It also provides services and resources for artists th ...

. She was a student of Samuel Rosenberg and her work was exhibited as ''Jane Haskell: Drawing in Light'' at the American Jewish Museum. "Born Jane Zirinsky in 1923, in Cedarhurst, Long Island, N.Y., Haskell received a bachelor of fine arts from

Skidmore College Skidmore College is a Private school, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,650 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Scien ...

in 1944 and earned a masters in art history from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

in 1961."

References

{{US-artist-stub 1923 births 2013 deaths Light artists Artists from Pittsburgh 20th-century American artists 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American artists 21st-century American women artists University of Pittsburgh alumni Skidmore College alumni