Janet Taylor Pickett (born August 13, 1948) is an American artist. Pickett's mixed media works are inspired by her life experience as an African American woman.

Early life and education

Janet Taylor Pickett was born in 1948 in

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

where she earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees in fine art. She also studied art at the

Vermont Studio Center The Vermont Studio Center (VSC) is a non-profit arts organization located in the town of Johnson, Vermont. It conducts the largest fine arts and writing residency program in the United States, with a significant population of international artis ...

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

, and the

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

Career

Taylor Pickett works in various mediums including sculpture, installation, painting, assemblage, and collage. Her work is inspired by her life as an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

woman and informed by her 30 years teaching at

Essex County College Essex County College (ECC) is a public community college in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. History In August 1966, the Essex County Board of Freeholders approved the creation of Essex County College and in September 1968, more tha ...

in New Jersey. In her own words, "My Blackness is a declarative statement in my work.” Taylor Pickett was one of the artists whose work was exhibited in the 1986 group show ''Progressions: Cultural Legacy'' at

MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution at 2201 Jackson Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

is a patron of Taylor Pickett's work. One of the artist's pieces was displayed in the congressional office when Harris was a senator.

Notable exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

*2021: ''Necessary Memories'', Jennifer Baahng Gallery, New York, New York *2016: ''Janet Taylor Pickett: The Matisse Series'',

Montclair Art Museum The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) is located in Montclair in Essex County, New Jersey and holds a collection of over 12,000 objects showcasing American and Native North American art. Through its public programs, art classes, and exhibitions, MAM ...

, Montclair, New Jersey

Group shows

*2020: ''Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition'',

The Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the grandson of James H. Laughli ...

, Washington DC *2017: ''African American Women Artists and the Power of Their Gaze'', David C. Driskell Center For the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora,

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

, Maryland *1986: ''Progressions: A Cultural Legacy'',

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York, New York

Collections

*"And She Was Born", mixed media, 2017, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. *"Hagar's Dress", print, 2007,

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an African-American art museum at 144 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Founded in 1968, the museum collects, preserves and interprets art created by African A ...

, New York, New York, the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the

Telfair Museums Telfair Museums, in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia, was the first public art museum in the Southern United States. Founded through the bequest of Mary Telfair (1791–1875), a prominent local citizen, and operated by the Georgia His ...

, Savannah, Georgia

References

External links

*
Live Interview with ARTnews President and Editorial Director Marion K. Manaker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickett, Janet Taylor 1948 births Artists from Pasadena, California African-American women artists African-American contemporary artists American contemporary artists 21st-century American women artists Artists from Ann Arbor, Michigan University of Michigan alumni Living people 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American women