Janet Henry is a visual artist based in New York City.

Early life and education

Henry was raised in East Harlem and then in Jamaica, Queens, where she currently lives. Henry attended the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

and the

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It ...

. She was a participant in the

Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited, more commonly called HARYOU, was an American social activism organization founded by psychologists Kenneth Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark in 1962. Its director was Cyril deGrasse Tyson, father of astrophysicist Ne ...

program (HARYOU) where she met instructor

Betty Blayton Taylor Betty Blayton (July 10, 1937 – October 2, 2016) was an American activist, advocate, artist, arts administrator and educator, and lecturer. As an artist, Blayton was an illustrator, painter, printmaker, and sculptor. She is best known for her wo ...

. In 1974, Henry was a recipient of a Rockefeller Fellowship in Museum Education at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Career and artistic contributions

Janet Henry's artistic work spans multiple mediums: collage and text-based work, jewelry, and sculpture/installations using multimedia materials. Her work often comments on American culture, including white male patriarchy, by making use of toys, dolls, and miniatures in her art installations. In the 1980s, she was known for creating and photographing necklaces and bracelets that featured sequences of materials. The work that she has completed has been showcased in solo and group exhibitions over the years. In partnership with filmmaker Linda Goode Bryant, Henry produced ''Black Currant'', a magazine which highlighted the experimental work of artists who were showcased by Just Above Midtown Gallery (JAM). The magazine was later known as ''B Culture'' and featured early works of

Greg Tate Gregory Stephen Tate (October 14, 1957December 7, 2021) was an American writer, musician, and producer. A long-time critic for ''The Village Voice'', Tate focused particularly on African-American music and culture, helping to establish hip-h ...

. In the 1970s, Henry also worked in the Education Department at the Studio Museum in Harlem, where she collaborated with artist

Carrie Mae Weems Carrie Mae Weems (born April 20, 1953) is an American artist working in text, fabric, audio, digital images and installation video, and is best known for her photography. She achieved prominence through her early 1990s photographic project ''Th ...

. Janet is a funder and educator contributing at the New York State Council on the Arts, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, Lower Eastside Girls Club, and currently works at the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School.

Activism

Janet Henry was vocally opposed to the exhibition ''The Nigger Drawings'' by Donald Newman at Artists Space and refused to show her own work in that gallery because of this show title. The exhibition was widely protested for the racism of this exhibition name by artists including

Carl Andre Carl Andre (born September 16, 1935) is an American minimalist artist recognized for his ordered linear and grid format sculptures and for the suspected murder of contemporary and wife, Ana Mendieta. His sculptures range from large public art ...

Howardena Pindell Howardena Pindell (born April 14, 1943) is an American artist, curator, and educator. She is known as a painter and mixed media artist, her work explores texture, color, structures, and the process of making art; it is often political, addressing ...

May Stevens May Stevens (June 9, 1924 – December 9, 2019) was an American feminist artist, political activist, educator, and writer. Early life and education May Stevens was born in Boston to working-class parents, Alice Dick Stevens and Ralph Stanley ...

, and

Lucy Lippard Lucy Rowland Lippard (born April 14, 1937) is an American writer, art critic, activist, and curator. Lippard was among the first writers to argue for the " dematerialization" at work in conceptual art and was an early champion of feminist art. S ...

who saw this incident as a key indicator of the systemic racism within the art world. Henry was also outspoken about the implicit racism of Women's Action Committee.

Exhibitions

Henry's artwork has been exhibited in various shows and venues such as PPOW Gallery,

the New Museum The New Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is a museum in New York City at 235 Bowery, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-named New S ...

, the Studio Museum in Harlem,

the Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art (formerly known as the Newark Museum), in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, A ...

, Artists Space, and Just Above Midtown.

Solo exhibitions and installations

*Lower Eastside Girls Club Community Gallery, "Two's", NYC, 2004 * Cedar Crest College, Recent Work, Curated by Cynthia Hawkins, Allentown, PA, 2003 * PPOW, "American Anatomy and Other Work", NYC, 2002 * John Jay College, "In Situ," NYC, 1998 * Hallwalls, "American Anatomy," Curated by Sara Kellner, Buffalo, NY, 1995 * Pulse Art, "American Anatomy," NYC, 1995 * Seventh Second Photo Gallery, "Social Commentary Sewn-up in Vinyl," Curated by Wendy Tiefenbacher, NYC, 1992 * Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY, "Collecting, Organizing and Transposing," Curated by Olivia Georgia, NYC, 1990 *

Public Art Fund Public Art Fund is an independent, non-profit arts organization founded in 1977 by Doris C. Freedman. The organization presents contemporary art in New York City's public spaces through a series of highly visible artists' projects, new commissions, ...

, "Messages to the Public: Eventually," NY, 1988 * Various Sites in Queens, "American Anatomy," NY, 1986 * Studio Museum in Harlem, "From the Studio: Artists-in-Residence," NYC, 1983 * Just Above Midtown Gallery, "Janet Henry Retroactive," NYC, 1982 * Basement Workshop, "Handel Was No Fool," NYC, 1981 * The Exhibitions Gallery, "Drawings and Other Things," Jamaica, NY 1978

Selected group exhibitions and installations

*Jamaica Center for Learning and Arts, "What Comes out of Our Textbooks," Queens, New York 2021 *

Queens Museum The Queens Museum, formerly the Queens Museum of Art, is an art museum and educational center located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States. The museum was founded in 1972, and has among its pe ...

, "Queens International 2018: Volumes," Curated by Sophia Marisa Lucas and Baseera Khan, NYC, 2018 *

A.I.R. Gallery A.I.R. Gallery (Artists in Residence) is the first all female artists cooperative gallery in the United States. It was founded in 1972 with the objective of providing a professional and permanent exhibition space for women artists during a time i ...

, "Dialectics of Entanglement: Do We Exist Together?" Curated by Roxana Fabius and Patricia M. Hernandez, NYC, 2018 *York College Fine Arts Gallery, "Southeast Queens Biennial: A Locus of Moving Points," Curated by NLE Curatorial Lab, NYC, 2018 *

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

, "We Wanted a Revolution," Curated by Catherine Morris, NYC, 2017 *

FiveMyles Gallery FiveMyles gallery is located in the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn. Founded in 1999, it is a non-profit gallery that exhibits visual and performance art. Its founder/director is Hanne Tierney. FiveMyles was the location for the Crown Heights Fil ...

, "No Place Like Utopia," Curated by Matt Freedman, NYC, 2008 * City Without Walls, Corridor Gallery, "Close to the Edge," Curated by Reynolds and Kevin Sampson, Newark, NJ, NYC, 2008 * Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, "Inside/Out", Curated by Duston Spear, NY, 2008 *

Indiana State University Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified among "D/PU: Doctor ...

, "Contemporary Women Artists," Curated by Judy Collischan, Terre Haute, Indiana, 2005 * Light Work, Menschel Gallery, "Ties that Bind," Syracuse University, 2002 * Center for Photography at Woodstock, "We are Named," Curated by Susan Evans, NY, 2001 *

Exit Art Exit Art was a non-profit cultural center that ran from 1982 to 2012 that exhibited contemporary visual art, installation, video, theater, and performance in New York City, United States. In its last location in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, it was a ...

, "Choices 99," Selected by Carrie Mae Weems, NYC, 1999 * Art Resources Transfer, NYC, 1999 * Giordano Gallery, "The Bead...," Cathy Valenza, Dowling College, Oakdale, NY, 1999 * Lemmerman Gallery, Jersey City University, "Picture/Image/Word," Mauro Altamura, 1998 * PPOW Gallery, "Rights of Spring," Curated by Carrie Mae Weems, NYC, 1998 * 1612 Pine Street, "Summer Camping," Curated by Dean Daderko, Philadelphia, PA, 1998 * PS 122 Gallery, "Shake: An Exhibition of Snow Domes," Curated by Jane Harris, NYC, 1998 * Dorfman Projects, "Tip of the Iceberg," Art Resources Transfer, NYC, 1998 * Betty Rymer Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago, "Sexting Myths: Representing Sexuality in African American Art," Curated by Kymberly Pinder, 1998 *

Henry Street Settlement The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founde ...

, "Stiches," Curated by Kathleen Spicer, NYC, 1997 * Kingsborough Community College Art Gallery, "Figuring Woman's Lives," Janice Farley, 1997 * Abington Art Center, "New American Portraits," Dean Daderko, Jenkintown, PA, 1996 *

The Drawing Center The Drawing Center is a Manhattan, New York, museum and a nonprofit exhibition space that focuses on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary. History The Drawing Center was founded by former assistant curator of drawings at ...

, "Cultural Economics: Histories from the Alternative Arts Movement," Curated by Julie Ault, NYC, 1996 * Algira Center of Contemporary Art, "With All Deliberate Speed: Revisiting Race and Education," Curated by Howard McCalebb and Carl Hazelwood, Newark, NJ, 1996 * Manhattan Borough President's Gallery, "Through Our Eyes - By Women About Women," Curated by Laura Litchfield, 1996 * Anderson Gallery, "X-Sightings," Buffalo, NY, 1996 *

New Museum The New Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is a museum in New York City at 235 Bowery, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-named New Sc ...

, "Human/Nature," Benefit Exhibition, NYC, 1995 * 494 Gallery, "Pride and Prejudice," Shari Diamond and Honor LaSSale, NYC, 1995 * The Gallery at Hunter College, "Beyond Circumstance," Curated by Margeret McInroe, NYC, 1995 * 42nd Street Development Project and Creative Time, NYC, 1994 * Puffin Room, "Identity Crisis," Curated by Laurie Ourlicht and Kenny Schacter, NYC 1994 *

Art in General Art in General was a non-profit contemporary art exhibition space known for its vibrant and ground-breaking projects as a formidable and longstanding New York City alternative space, focused on giving meaningful resources and opportunities to ar ...

, "Little Things," Curated by Holly Block, NYC, 1994 * Momenta, "Yes I Am - No I'm Not," Curated by Laura Parness and Eric Heist, NYC 1994 *

, "Bad Girls," Curated by Marsha Tucket, NYC, 1994 * Artists Space, "Artists Select," Selected by Lanie Lee, NYC, 1994 * Longwood Art Gallery, "Urban Masculinity," Curated by Bettie-Sue Hertz and Calvin Reid, Bronx, NY, 1993 * Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 1994 * AC Project Room at

303 Gallery 303 Gallery is an art gallery in Manhattan, New York. It was established in 1984 by owner and director Lisa Spellman, described by art critic Jerry Saltz as "one of the greatest New York gallerists of our time". The gallery hosts contemporary works ...

, "Welcome Edition," Curated by Paul Bloodgood and Alissa Friedman, NYC, 1993 * Artists Space, "Activated Walls," Curated by Carlos Solana, NYC 1993 * Momenta, "The Art of Self Defense and Revenge," Laura Parness and Eric Heist, NYC 1993 *

at PaineWeber Gallery, Curated by Phyllis Billick, NYC, 1992 * 494 Gallery, "Race and Culture," Curated by Suzanne Nicholas, NYC 1991 * Maryland Art Place, "Collecting, Organizing and Transposing," Olivia Georgia, Baltimore, MD * Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA, 1989 * Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, "Art from the African Diaspora: Survival," Curated by Lorenzo Pace, Newark, NJ, 1988 * Diverse Works, "Coast to Coast," Organized by Faith Ringgold and Clarissa Sligh, Houston, TX, 1988 * Intar Gallery, "In Her Own Image," Curated by Howardena Pindell, NYC, 1988 *

White Columns White Columns is New York City’s oldest alternative non-profit art space. White Columns is known as a showcase for up-and-coming artists, and is primarily devoted to emerging artists who are not affiliated with galleries. All work submitted is ...

, "Resistance (Anti-Baudrillard)" Curated by Group Material, NYC, 1987 * Longwood Arts Project, "Toys Art Us," Curated by Fred Wilson, Bronx, NY, 1986–87 * The Clocktower, "Progressions: A Cultural Legacy," Curated by Vivian Browne, Emma Amos and Julia Hotten, NYC 1986 * Longwood Arts Project, "In the Tropics," Curated by Kellie Jones, Bronx, NY, 1986 * California State College, Stanislaus at Turlock, "Exchange of Resources: Expanding Powers," Curated by Rebecca Ballenger, 1983 * Just Above Midtown Gallery, "A Love Story," Curated by Kathleen Gonchorov, NYC, 1983 * School of Visual Arts, "Transmogrify, "Selected by Caren Rosenblatt, NYC, 1983 * Ohio State University Gallery, "All's Fair in Love and War in Feminist Art,"Curated by Lucy Lippard, Columbus OH, 1983 * University of South Florida, Tampa, "Henry, Hill, Payne," 1983 * Hamilton College, "The Regentrified Jungle," Curated by Joe Lewis, Clinton, NY, 1983 *

Franklin Furnace Franklin Furnace, also known as the Franklin Mine, is a famous mineral location for rare zinc, iron, manganese minerals in old mines in Franklin, New Jersey, United States. This locale produced more species of minerals (over 300) and more differ ...

, "Allegory of an Artist's Career," with Sydney Blum, NYC, 1981 * Studio Museum in Harlem, "En Route," Curated by Patricia Monan Bell, NYC, 1981 *

, "The Dialectics of Isolation," Kazuko, Ana Mendietta and Zarina, NYC, 1981 * 626 Gallery, "Private Worlds," Curated by Joyce Kozloff, NYC 1981

Awards

* Penny McCall Foundation, Award, NYC, 2001 * Art Matters Foundation, Artist's Fellowship, NYC, 1994 * Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts, Cash Prize, "Artists Choose Artists," 1994 * New York State Regional Initiative, "Artists Projects," 1994 * Public Art Fund, Spectra-Color Board Commission, "Messages to the Public," NYC, 1987 * New York State Council on the Arts, Visual Artists-sponsored Project, 1985 * PS1, Studio Recipient, Long Island City, NY, 1983 * Public Art Fund, Mural Commission, Jamaica, NY, 1975 * School of Visual Arts, Scholarship, NYC, 1964

Residencies

* Lightwork Visual Studies, One Month Residency, Syracuse, NY, 2000 *

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

, Three Week Residency, Saratoga Springs, NY, 1998 * Studio Museum in Harlem, Artist-in-Residence, NY, 1983

External links

* https://janethenry.com/home.html
Janet Henry
on the African American Visual Artists Database

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Janet Year of birth missing (living people) Living people African-American women artists Artists from New York City School of Visual Arts alumni Fashion Institute of Technology alumni People from East Harlem People from Jamaica, Queens 20th-century American artists 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American artists 21st-century American women artists 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American artists