Aug. 3, 2006 – St. John resident Janet Cook-Rutnik will wrap up her summer as an artist in residence at the School of Visual Arts in New York City with an exhibition Thursday at the school.
"I've honed my skills and my ideology," she said Thursday, of her two months at the school.
Cook-Rutnik said she enjoyed the opportunity to work with the other students in the program and get feedback from the teachers.
She said the 15 artists in the summer program did cutting-edge work in contemporary art, video, multimedia and sculpture.
According to Cook-Rutnik, she attended two sessions: the first, on public art; and the second on sculpture, installation and new media.
Cook-Rutnik said she had her own studio and access to all the school's facilities, which included a wood shop, ironworks, welding equipment, glass cutters, and plaster. Additionally, the school had a media room with projectors and video equipment.
Cook-Rutnik took advantage of the video facilities to create "Transitions," a collection of film clips she shot while traveling around New York by train, subway and taxi. Cook-Rutnik said video is a new field for her.
"It's the beginning of a new series of work for me," she said.
Another work, an installation called "House of Dreams," includes photos of houses taken on a trip last year to East Africa. The photos are projected on a large piece of gauze.
She'll also have two series of photographs on display. Cook-Rutnik photographed "Sidewalk Houses" on 19th Street. She'll also exhibit "Time Still," images from a video in which time and motion are frozen.
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