Janet Cook-Rutnik Retrospective: 1978-2023: CMCARTS Artist Talk Saturday

December 19, 2024

Twilight. Acrylic on canvas by Janet Cook-Rutnik (Photo courtesy Janet Cook-Rutnik)

The “Janet Cook-Rutnik Retrospective: 1978-2023” opened at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts in downtown Frederiksted, Nov. 9. It was one of those “monsoon-like” days St. Croix had been experiencing. Ominous as it was … folks came out in support of this prolific St. John-based artist and the evening was like no other … it was beyond exceptional.

She had been encouraged by friends to share her 45-year anniversary, which she agreed to do as more of a survey of 51 paintings, three installations, and three videos — an ambitious feat, yet doable, she thought.

The focus of the retrospective is on the paintings produced over the past 55 years. After arriving on St. John in 1969 [Neil Armstrong landed on the moon the same year], Cook-Rutnik was a working artist from day one.

“I’ve done a lot of printmaking, I’ve worked in collages, I’m working in installations, and I did do a documentary … so, there’s a lot more work.”

Still shot from “Rock Transfer” video: Janet Cook-Rutnik and Donkey (Photo courtesy Janet Cook-Rutnik)

According to CMCARTS Executive Director Lisa Mordhorst, “Cook-Rutnik’s work provides a deeply personal visual record of the changes that have evolved in the Virgin Islands’ physical and cultural landscape over the past 45 years.”

“Janet has been involved with CMCARTS from the beginning and was integral to the founding concepts and implementation in the early 1990s. Janet and founder Candia Atwater-Shields were close friends and Janet has provided a deep knowledge of the art world and museum structures to CMCARTS,” Mordhorst said.

An artist talk by Cook-Rutnik was shared in November and Volume Two will be another artist talk on Saturday, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., which will follow a free Classical Concert featuring Fernando Garcia, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Chrysalis. Acrylic on canvas by Janet Cook-Rutnik (Photo courtesy Janet Cook-Rutnik)

CMCARTS will offer some of her original prints while the show is up. There will be a comprehensive catalog published documenting the exhibition with essays by curator Marianne de Tolentino, Priscilla Hintz Rivera Knight and David Knight and an earlier published survey of Cook-Rutnik’s work, also in the museum store.

Saturday’s Artist Talk will be opened up to the community in conversation, Cook-Rutnik said.

“It struck me that we are living in some very challenging and confusing times, right now. I think we’re going to need art more than ever before. And we need to garner support for it from whatever factions we can and become more creative ourselves and participate. I think that offers the most hope for the future for us.”

Cook-Rutnik has some ideas that she would like to share in her talk in reference to the “one-percent” legislation that Sen. Myron Jackson proposed back in the day and was vetoed by the governor for a revisit.

Talking to Your Spirit. Acrylic on canvas by Janet Cook-Rutnik (Photo courtesy Janet Cook-Rutnik)

The Per Cent for Arts scheme is a government initiative, first introduced in 1978, whereby 1 percent of the cost of any publicly funded capital infrastructural and building development can be allocated to the commissioning of a work of art. Work created under this scheme is most often referred to as public art.

“The conversation will be about having a public art collection and a lot of other things that can happen to support the arts. So, you just can’t believe in it and like it, you have to participate and support it,” Cook-Rutnik said.

She invites the community to come out and be a part of the conversation. Cook-Rutnik hopes that educators, realtors, Our Town Frederiksted, CHANT, and others will join in the conversation.

“We’re all in this together. Art plays a big role in that. Nothing improves real estate value more than art moving into an area. As soon as the artists go in and make studios — like SoHo, Santa Monica, Old Town, VA, South Beach — all over the world … then the artists can’t afford to live there because the real estate becomes so valuable because of the artists.”