environmental art
Environmental art is a range of artistic practices encompassing both historical approaches to nature in art and more recent ecological and politically motivated types of works. Environmental art has evolved away from formal concerns, for example ...
ist internationally known for her site-specific public works. In her works as an artist she has over 40 collaborations around the world including the US, Japan, and Israel. In her work as a
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
activist
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
she founded and was active for four years in the organization known as WOAR.
Early life and education
Jody Pinto was born in New York City in 1942 to a family of artist, and carried on this legacy with both her education as well as activism. She attended
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She earned her BFA from
Philadelphia College of Art
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since 1 ...
.
Work
Pinto's early works confront nature in work
performances
A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.
Management science
In the work place ...
such as the 1976 digging piece ''Triple Well Enclosure'', which explores excavation and entombment. Pinto's work was never rejected by the public, mainly because she considered her work ethic to be very attentive in what the client and public wanted out of the piece. Taking a break from her art to focus on her activism with WOAR she returned to her art after her four year involvement, and had a new perspective on changing peoples lives through her work. Not only did WOAR give her new perspectives, but it helper her learn how to talk to people, and thus giving her ways to connect and make connections through her art.
Public art
In 1987 Pinto completed her first large-scale permanent
public art
Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...
work ''Fingerspan''. 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.
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
3rd Street/Convention Center is a light rail station in Charlotte, North Carolina. The elevated dual side platforms are a stop along the Lynx Blue Line in Uptown Charlotte.
Location
The station is located above 3rd Street and is accessible from ...
in
Charlotte, NC
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...
. 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 , , and and are either green or berry in color.
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.
WOAR
Pinto founded the
rape crisis center
Rape crisis centers (RCCs) are community-based organizations affiliated with the anti-rape movement that work to help victims of rape, sexual abuse, and sexual violence. Central to a community's rape response, RCCs provide a number of services, su ...
''Women Organized Against Rape'' in 1972. 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. 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 alongside 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.
Awards and fellowships
Pinto won a
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
Award in 1979. 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. In 1994 she received a
Joan Mitchell Foundation
Joan Mitchell (February 12, 1925 – October 30, 1992) was an American artist who worked primarily in painting and printmaking, and also used pastel and made other works on paper. She was an active participant in the New York School of artis ...
Grant. 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.
Selected exhibitions
Pinto's work was included in
Extended Sensibilities
Extension, extend or extended may refer to:
Mathematics
Logic or set theory
* Axiom of extensionality
* Extensible cardinal
* Extension (model theory)
* Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate
* Ext ...
, "the first exhibition to address homosexuality as a subject in art", at The New Museum in New York in 1982.
Collections
Pinto's work is held in many permanent collections including:
*
The Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of the ...
, New York, NY.
*
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...
, New York, NY.
Teaching
Pinto began teaching at PAFA in 1978. While there she started the first visiting artist program to bring contemporary artists to speak at the school. She taught at PAFA for 40 years, retiring in 2018.