Growing up on a farm 80 miles west of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Jane DeDecker had what she described as an ideal childhood.  Her art talents were apparent early from the time she drew figures on the sloped ceilings of her bedroom, and her mother, with some art training, encouraged her interest. In fact, her mother worked in her sculpting studio when Jane became established.

At age 10, she moved with her family to Loveland, Colorado, and she studied art at the University of Northern Colorado and then, leaving in her junior year, went to France to study tapestry.  Returning to Loveland, she met sculptor George Lundeen and became one of his studio assistants for 8 years.

She then began her own figure sculpting with many of her subjects being from childhood memories. Her first major piece was two boys on a bike, a sculpture that was placed in Loveland's Benson Park.  She married Kyle Dallabetta, an electrical engineer, who later opened a coffee shop in Loveland, and she works from her studio in a renovated barn.

Source:

Southwest Art, August, 1995