Janet Echelman

Full time 2007 - 2008

Photo by Doug Cogger

Janet Echelman is an artist who sculpts public space.  Her studios are located in New York City and Boston, and her work has been installed in a dozen countries throughout Asia, Europe, and North America.  She takes much of her inspiration from the site where the work is placed and the history and culture of those places. Her most recent major works include a monumental wind-sculpture made of steel and netting in Porto, Portugal and an artificial “island” in the Hudson River which is an intimate community memorial of September 11, 2001 for Hoboken, New Jersey.  Her newest commission is an environmental sculpture for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. She is particularly interested in creating the sort of public art that has the power to bring people into a shared space, hold them there and, in the best of worlds, create the starting point for interactions among people.  She serves on the National Council of the Public Art Network and is active in matters of public art policy at the national level. As a fellow, Janet will study urban planning and landscape architecture which often frame her work. She will also spend time in the areas of philosophy, theology and environmental science in an effort to understand better how to read the places and the cultures where her work is placed.