Biography

Jann Haworth was born and raised in Hollywood with her artist mother and art director father. Her work often references the world of celebrity and popular culture that she experienced first-hand. After two years at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), in 1961 Haworth left for Europe and settled in London, where she enrolled in the Courtauld Institute of Art and Slade School of Fine Art. It was during her time at the Slade that Haworth first began developing her innovative soft sculpture practice. Having learnt how to sew from her mother from an early age, Haworth realised she could manipulate cloth to transform flat two dimensional planes into sculptural 3D forms. For Haworth, the choice of cloth was an act of rebellion that reclaimed the value of traditional female crafts. With a long-standing interest in education, Haworth founded and ran the Looking Glass School in Bath in 1979 and went on to author and illustrate several children’s books. She returned to the USA in the mid-1990s, settling in Sundance, Utah, where she founded the Art Shack Studios and Glass Recycling Works, and co-founded the Sundance Mountain Charter School. She is also known for her large-scale, public mural projects, which centre on women’s creativity and celebrate prominent women throughout history.