J. Morgan Puett (born 1957) is an American fashion designer and interdisciplinary contemporary artist. She first became known for her fashion designs and later for her contemporary art practice incorporating fashion.

Life

Puett was born in

Hahira, Georgia Hahira is a city in northwest Lowndes County, Georgia, Lowndes County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. The population was 2,737 at the 2010 census, up from 1,626 at the 2000 census. Hahira has a mayor-council form of elected govern ...

in 1957. Beekeeping was a family profession, with three of her siblings becoming beekeepers. She received her BFA in painting and sculpture from the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

in 1981. She received an MFA degree in sculpture and experimental filmmaking from the same school in 1985.

Creative career

Puett is a trans-disciplinary creative producer in the areas of installation art practices, clothing design, architecture, photography, and fine art.

Art practice

Her work uses conceptual tools including research-based methods in history, biology, new economies, design, craft and collaboration. Morgan's early work forged new territory by intervening into the fashion system with a series of storefront installations and clothing/dwelling/event projects in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York in the 1980s and 90s, then produced a long series of research installations on the histories of the needle trade systems in museums and festivals around the world. her practice has been innovative in that it has encouraged new forms of social engagement in art.

Fashion Work

Between 1985 and 1997, Puett was known for her "upscale depression era" fashion designs, sold through her New York boutique. When her final store closed in 1997, she held an exhibition of the leftover business items, such as cheques, business cards and unsold clothes, dipped in beeswax.

The RN Patch

In the early 2000s, the American Association of Nurses and the Center for Nurse Advocacy sought a means to better identify

registered nurses A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

in busy medical environments, in order to reduce confusion and help patients and others identify nurses quickly. In 2003, as part of the exhibition ''RN: The Past, Present, and Future of the Nurses' Uniform'' at

The Fabric Workshop and Museum The Fabric Workshop and Museum, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, is a non-profit arts organization devoted to creating new work in new materials and new media in collaboration with emerging, nationally, and internationally rec ...

, Philadelphia. Pruett collaborated with Mark Dion to create a patch for registered nurses to wear on their uniforms. The patch, a simple square with the letters "RN", could be put on any scrubs and was considered a "simple, elegant solution".

Mildred's Lane Project

With

Mark Dion Mark Dion (born August 28, 1961) is an American conceptual artist best known for his use of scientific presentations in his installations. His work examines the manner in which prevalent ideologies and institutions influence our understanding ...

, she is a founder of The Mildred's Lane Project, an experimental artist's residency program. Karen Archey, writing in

Art in America ''Art in America'' is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world in the United States, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It i ...

, described Mildred's Lane as an "ongoing experiment in pedagogy, a social space, a site for artistic and architectural intervention, a residency program, and home to Puett..." Located on a 96-acre farm in rural Berlin Township

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, the residency focuses on social and political practice in the arts.

Awards

Puett has been awarded the John and Marva Warnock award 2014, the United States Artists Simon Fellow Award 2011, the Smithsonian Institution Artist Research Fellowship 2009, and the

Anonymous Was A Woman Award The Anonymous Was A Woman Award is a grant program for women artists who are over 40 years of age, in part to counter sexism in the art world. It began in 1996 in direct response to the National Endowment for the Arts' decision to stop funding in ...

and the PEI in Philadelphia award, both in 2005. In 2016 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Exhibitions

Puett exhibits, lectures and teaches extensively in venues that include MoMA, New York (2012–13); Musashimo Art University, Tokyo (2012); Contemporary Art Center,

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

, Republic of Georgia (2012); Creative Time, NYC (2011); Queens Museum of Art, NYC (2010); MoMA, NYC (2010); The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2008); University of Venice, Italy (2005); American Fine Arts Co., NYC (2004); ARTEX, Arnheim, Netherlands (2004); WaveHill, Bronx, NYC; The Fabric Workshop and Museum of Philadelphia (2003–04); Mass MoCA, Ma. (2004); Spoleto, USA, Charleston, SC, (2002); The Serpentine Gallery & Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2001).

Collections

Puett's work is in the Tate Modern in London, The Fabric Workshop and Museum of Philadelphia and the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

. Her work is also included in the permanent collection of the

Hirshhorn Museum The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was des ...

at the Smithsonian Institution.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puett, J. Morgan American fashion designers Living people School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni 1957 births People from Hahira, Georgia