Jane Kitchell
December 13, 1946 — August 2, 2013
Jane Kitchell died shortly after midnight on Aug. 2, 2013 in Seattle, Wash., surrounded by loving family and friends.
She was born Dec. 13, 1946 to Betty and Sam Kitchell, in Northampton, Mass., and grew up in Paradise Valley, Ariz.
She attended Kiva Elementary School in Paradise Valley, The Bishop’s School for Girls in La Jolla, Calif., and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, Bennington College in Vt., and the University of California Berkeley.
Jane was an artist from her earliest years, when she and her sister, Kaaren, made small books of stories which Jane illustrated. She was inspired by her wild desert surroundings, exploring on the family donkey, Pokey. She made her first sculptures from treasures found scavenging the desert with her brother Jon.
She lived a life full of travel and adventure, including creating performance art and sculpture in Berkeley in the ‘60s with her first husband, Michael Haimovitz; sailing to the South Pacific, and living in Tahiti; marrying and having a child, Bayu, with her second husband, Franklin Angermeyer, in the Galapagos Islands in the ‘70s.
With her third husband, John LaPrade, she moved to the San Juan Islands in the ‘80s, with Bayu and their daughter Rachel.
Her last marriage in the ‘90s was to Mark Sheppard of Friday Harbor, San Juan Island. Later, she lived in San Francisco, Boulder and Seattle.
During her many adventures, she never ceased making art—paintings, drawings and sculptures. She had gallery shows in Friday Harbor, Boulder, and at Ironwood Studio in Phoenix, her work often selling out.
Jane was also an inspiring art teacher who loved working with kids in her private studio, and at Creativity Explored in San Francisco.
She is survived by her two daughters, Bayu LaPrade and Rachel Kitchell of Seattle, her mother, Betty Kitchell, of Paradise Valley, and her four siblings, Kaaren Kitchell of Paris, Jon Kitchell of Phoenix, Ann Denk and Suki Edwards of Paradise Valley, and by seven nephews and nieces.
She was deeply saddened by the loss of her wonderful father, Sam Kitchell, in 2006.
Jane was a person of extraordinary beauty who touched everyone around her with love, who moved and inspired us all.
As a friend said, Jane made the world more beautiful while she was here. Those who knew her cannot imagine the world without her.
A Memorial Celebration will be held in Friday Harbor on Aug. 17, 2013.
In lieu of sending flowers, donations may be sent to Creativity Explored in San Francisco, 3245 16th St., San Francisco, CA, 94103 or www.creativityexplored.org.
— Family of Jane Kitchell
