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Ebola Came to Mali on a Bus, 10 feet x 12 feet x 4 feet, Steel, Gloves, Goggles, 2015
In an effort to “flatten the curve” of fine art installation closures, activist muralist Janet Braun-Reintz and her son comedian Dave Reintz created Drive By Art Gallery by converting the outdoor coming attraction poster boxes into 12 installation boxes featuring images of art works relating to the coronavirus pandemic.
Janet participated in You Will Know Me, a group exhibition curated by Tara Sabharwal in response to the 2016 US elections. The exhibition featuring works by artists from all over the globe.
Goldner presented a three week workshop for visual art students at Kyoto Seika University. Inspired by a process originated by the renowned feminist art critic, Arlene Raven, participants are guided to examine the reasons and context of their artistic production in order to deepen their understanding of their work and learn how to present their work.
Each year, the Friends Academy Middle School comes together as a whole community for an Arts Celebration. Goldner taught a four day Bogolan Workshop. The first day included an introduction to bogolan, history, uses, symbols. Students experimented with clay slip from Mali on a small cotton cloth. The second day, students worked on a larger cloth. On the third day, students added natural colors to their bogolan paintings. And on the last day, an exhibition presented their work.
Ebola Came to Mali on a Bus, Steel, Gloves, Goggles, 10′ x 12′ x 4′. 2015
Images of Goldner’s work were projected during the concert at the Vision Festival. Founded in 1996, the Vision Festival is New York City’s longest continuously running jazz festival. Now in its 24th year, this festival of music, dance, poetry, and visual art is heralded as “one of New York’s most essential art events” (New York Times). Promoting free jazz as a multidisciplinary aesthetic, the festival also features leading figures in dance, poetry, visual art, and thought.
Goldner’s installations, Fences & Neighbors and Fire & Water were shown at Segou,Art, 2nd Edition, in the Invited Senior Artist section of the Festival. Sponsored by the Festival sur le Niger Foundation, Segou’Art brings together contemporary art and artists from more than 20 countries in Africa and elsewhere.
Inside Out is a valuable self-assessment tool for artists. Participants, whatever their medium, are invited to examine the reasons and context of their artistic production. This leads to a deeper understanding of their work and encourages their personal and professional development. This workshop was inspired by the pedagogy of art historian, Arlene Raven.
Janet Goldner was proud to be included in an exhibition commissioned by The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in celebration of the closing of the 70th Anniversary of the Declaration Human Rights.
As Life Slips Away, 2017
Presented by The Sculptors Guild in Collaboration with LIC-A; Janet Goldner, As Life Slips Away, Steel, 2017 — As Life Slips Away is a wall installation that pays homage to my mother who died in July 2017. I spent her last week with her in her home in California. The text is from my memories of her and of that very sad week that was so full of love. The letters and words are formed using a welding torch as a drawing tool making spaces in the steel. That amazing week resulted in a separation that is impossible to bridge even as it collapsed the space between my mother and me.
The Point of Water is a wall installation that uses fabricated, recycled, and found steel objects. In Bamana thought in addition to north, south east and west there is a 5th cardinal point: the point of water. Access to water determines where villages are located. The circle can be like a drop of rain, a symbol of water. And the ellipse can symbolize a body of water.
In August, Goldner spent 10 days on the US/Mexican Border in Texas. Goldner spent 5 days in El Paso with Annunciation House, a nonprofit, volunteer organization that has been working with migrants and refugees since the 1970’s. She lived in a house that also welcomes migrants. She went to sites key to the migrant experience in El Paso. Then Goldner spent 5 days driving from El Paso to Brownsville, looking at the border, the fences, the Rio Grande. Crossing back and forth into Mexico thru the US Points of Entry.