Most of Us Are Immigrants’ combines language and objects to make conceptually-based public art that takes the whole city as its site. —Roberta Smith, The New York Times, August 8, 1997
Janet Goldner spends much time in Mali. She makes free-standing steel sculptures and wall-bound installations that reference her artistic lineage going back to the welded sculpture of Julio Gonzalez. But the work also displays her social consciousness and her deep continuing interest in African art. —Carl Hazlewood, curator, July 2011
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Janet Goldner is a New York City based interdisciplinary artist. Born in Washington, DC., Janet received her BA from Antioch College and her MA from New York University. While at Antioch, Janet participated in The Experiment in International Living program in 1973 and spent nearly a year studying and traveling in West Africa, igniting her life-long connection with the continent. In 1978, she settled in New York where she received her M.A. in sculpture from NYU.
Janet’s steel sculpture, photography, video, text, installation and social projects bridge diverse cultures, exploring and celebrating similarities and differences. Goldner’s work has been exhibited in over thirty solo exhibitions, and over one hundred-fifty group exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally. Solo exhibitions include FiveMyles, Brooklyn, NY, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY; Segou’Art, Segou, Mali; Art Resources Transfer, New York, NY; Walton Art Center, Fayetteville, AK; Calabar Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Interchurch Center, New York, NY; Klutznick Museum, Washington, D.C. Janet’s Museum exhibitions include Global Africa Project, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY curated by Lowery Sims; Women Facing AIDS, New Museum for Contemporary Art, New York, NY; Multiple Exposures, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; Visions of Life, Islip Museum, Islip, NY curated by Marcia Yerman, Activist New York, The Museum of the City of New York, NY; Beyond Reading: Books As Art, Suffolk Museum, Suffolk, VA; Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx NY. Permanent collections include the American Embassy in Mali, the city of Segou, Mali and the Islip Museum on Long Island, NY.
Goldner was awarded a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship to Mali in 1995. Since then, she has traveled to Mali every year for projects, research, inspiration and friendship. Janet has received four Fulbright Specialist grants (Mali, Zimbabwe, Japan, Uganda) and grants from the Ford Foundation and the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Public Diplomacy grant, US Dept of State. Goldner’s published articles include a chapter in Contemporary African Fashion, Indiana University Press, an essay in Poetics of Cloth, Grey Art Gallery, NYU.
Residencies include Yaddo, Millay Colony for the Arts, Vermont Studio Center, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Michigan State University, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Soaring Gardens, New Jersey City University, Tucson Arts Brigade, Hambidge Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
