Jody Pinto

Jody Pinto (born 1942) is an American environmental artist internationally known for her site-specific public works.[1] She has created over 50 collaborative public art works around the world including the US, Japan, and Israel.[2] As a feminist activist while living in Philadelphia, she founded (1971) and directed for four years the organization known as WOAR ( Women Organized Against Rape), which is still active .[3]

Jody Pinto
Jody Pinto shelters on eastern side of Third Street/Convention Center station
Born1942
New York City, New York, America
NationalityAmerican
EducationPennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; University of the Arts Philadelphia, BFA
Known forPublic art
Notable work
Fingerspan, 1987
AwardsNational Endowment for the Arts Award 1979


Early life and education

Jody Pinto was born in New York City in 1942 [4] to a family of artists, and carried on this legacy with both her education as well as her activism.[2] Moving to Philadelphia in 1960, she attended Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, winning the William Emlen Cresson Memorial Traveling Scholarship (1967), which funded travels throughout Europe.[5] She earned her BFA from Philadelphia College of Art (Now University of the Arts).[1]


Work

During the 60’s she developed a series of large-scale, canvas-backed, works using sand, Rhoplex, marble dust and powdered pigments. As the thick mixture slowly dried, the surface was drawn into and pushed like skin or wet sand. These early works and drawings were the first in a dialogue between body/land.


While living in Philadelphia (1960-1980), Pinto founded and directed Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR), a grass-roots organization that transformed Philadelphia’s institutions concerning the crime of rape. Today WOAR is a major contributor in the fields of education, law and prosecution. This deep involvement in community created a desire to explore collaborative public projects in nearby empty city lots where the early “well works”, (19th century wells and cisterns) were built. Unearthing them and allowing them to breath again.


Her drawings are in numerous private and public collections, including the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the National Gallery of Art and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.; Des Moines Art Center in Iowa; the Denver Art Museum; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among others.

A feature article in Landscape Architecture about an award-winning project that Pinto collaborated on, describes her basic philosophy of public art: "Pinto, artist on the project, describes designing South Beach (Santa Monica, CA) as an act of 'peeling back a film, revealing what was already there, and exposing the possibilities. The ‘human theater’ of the beach, the people and their activities, became the central focus of the design. How design can enhance existing uses and inspire new ones became the central question.’ It is rare to find a design that starts from such a humble perspective. The provocative integration of drama and mystery into daily activity provides a connective tissue between life and art.”

Public Art

In 1987 Pinto completed her first large-scale permanent public art work Fingerspan.[6] Which was a 59' long metal enclosure connecting two cliffs together in the shape of a bent finger.

In 2000 Pintos collaboration on the B.I.G (Beach Improvement Group) Project, was various installations such as restrooms, seatwalls, paths, and the “Beacon Overlook”. they also landscaped and restored the Palisades, as well. as designed workout area and chess courts. [2]

In 2000 Light Islands was created in Tokamachi City, Japan. this installation consisted of fiberglass tubes illuminated by interior fiber-optics.

In 2008 Pinto completed a permanent work at the Third Street/Convention Center station in Charlotte, NC.[7][8] The work consists of 20 illuminated fiberglass canopies that provide light and also serve as shelter for users during inclement weather. The canopies range in height from 9 feet (3 m), 11 feet (3 m), and 13 feet (4 m) and are either green or berry in color.[8]

In 2014 Pinto created a piece called Land Buoy which is a metal spiral staircase, Standing 55' tall. This installation overlooks the ocean and land of the Washington Avenue Pier on the Delaware River in South Philadelphia. [9]


WOAR

Jody Pinto founded the rape crisis center Women Organized Against Rape in 1971. After seeing how a close friends of Pinto was treated and dealt with after being raped, she felt that the system was failing woman who were going through this trauma and decided to take action and thus WOAR was born. [10]This organization was create through volunteers during the 52nd anniversary of woman's suffrage. WOAR was the first center to organize city institutions to prosecute rape as a crime, and was also the first rape crisis center to gain access to a large city hospital emergency room. Pinto served as director until 1974. The activist working with WOAR found a huge benefit in working along side politicians, and how impactful a politicians standing on sexual violence could effect their public image and influence. Describing how a Philadelphia political not working with an organization like WOAR was considered political suicide. WOAR continues its work today (2021) partnering with community in its mission to eliminate sexual violence and provide services to any who have experienced it. [3][10][11]


Awards and Fellowships

Pinto won a National Endowment for the Arts Award in 1979.[12] In 1992 Steve Martino and Jody Pinto were given an Honor Award for their work on the PAPAGO PARK/CITY BOUNDARY PROJECT in Phoenix, Arizona. Pinto was given the ASLA Merit Award, NY 1993 New York Foundation for the Arts Grant Southern Avenue Streetscape/Patrick Park Plaza, Valley Forward/Honeywell, “Crescordia” Environmental Excellence Award, Phoenix, AZ. [13] In 1994 she received a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant.[14] In 2002 Pinto and those involved in the B.I.G project (Beach Improvement Group Projects)of Santa Monica were given the National ASLA Design Honor Award.[15]


Selected Exhibitions

Pinto's work was included in Extended Sensibilities, "the first exhibition to address homosexuality as a subject in art",[16] at The New Museum in New York in 1982.


Collections

Pinto's work is held in many permanent collections including:


Teaching

Pinto began teaching at PAFA in 1978. While there she started the first visiting artists program to bring contemporary artists, critics, and writers to speak at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She taught at PAFA for 40 years, retiring in 2018.[5]

Pinto has also participated in critiques at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the 1980s.


References
  1. "Island Press artists: Jody Pinto". Kemper Art Museum. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  2. Carlock, Marty. ""BEYOND WHAT YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW."". JSTOR. American Society of Landscape Architects. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  3. Love, Barbara J. (2006). Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975. Google books: University of Illinois Press. p. 362. ISBN 978-0252031892. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  4. Cameron, Daniel (1982). Extended Sensibilities: Homosexual Presence in Contemporary Art. New Museum of Contemporary Art. pp. 32–35, 58–59. ISBN 978-9995067342.
  5. ""GET OUT AND EXPLORE": PROFESSOR JODY PINTO RETIRES AFTER 40 YEARS". Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  6. Marincola, Paula (December 1987). "Jody Pinto: Fairmount Park". Artforum. 26 (4): 121–122.
  7. "Art In Transit: Jody Pinto". CHARLOTTENC.GOV. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  8. Dellert O'Keef, Judy (Summer 2007). "Sheltering Passengers with Art: Pinto Transforms 3rd Street Station" (PDF). South Transitions. Charlotte Area Transit System. Retrieved September 29, 2007.
  9. Pinto, Jody. "Land Buoy". Jody Pinto.
  10. "WOAR: Philadelphia's Only Rape Crisis Center". Women Organized Against Rape. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  11. Burt, Gornick, Pittman, Dejanikus, Martha, Janet, Karen, Tacie (1984). "ANTI-RAPE PULLOUT: Ten Years After: RAPE CRISIS CENTERS". Off Our Backs. 14 (8): 17–22. JSTOR 25794467.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. "National Endowment for the Arts: 1979 Annual Report" (PDF). USA.gov. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  13. "Jody Pinto". RoGallery.
  14. "Joan Mitchell Foundation: artist grants 1994". Joan Mitchell Foundation. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  15. Staff, ASLA. "News". American Society of Landscape Architecture.
  16. Summers, Claude J., ed. (2004). The Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts. Google Books: Cleis Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-1573441919. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  17. "Museum of Modern Art: collections: Jody Pinto". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  18. "Whitney artists: Judy Pinto". Whitney Museum of American Art. Retrieved 27 February 2019.

Official website

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.