Janet Cook-Rutnik

Born in New York, Resident of St. John, VI since 1969. Her work involves collaborative and solo projects in multimedia, which deal with migration and journeys in a personal and collective way and the impact of colonialism in the Virgin Islands and the Caribbean. Cook-Rutnik studied sculpture at graduate level with Richard Stankiewicz at SUNY (1968), printmaking at Skidmore College, NY (1990), public art, installation and new media at the School of Visual Arts (2006) and was a mid-Atlantic Arts Creative fellow, VCCA, VA (2011, 2008). 

"Having lived in the Caribbean since 1969, I am continually warmed by the power and beauty of the climate and the culture. The underlying mystery and unspoken drama of these little islands in the "wide Sargasso Sea" is the subject of my work, which also includes monotypes and serigraphs produced in my St. John studio. I have represented the Virgin Islands in museum exhibitions in Washington, D.C., Germany, France, the Dominican Republic and Cuenca, Ecuador." 

Cook-Rutnik has exhibited in museums and galleries in the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Cuba, New York, Trinidad, France, Italy, Barbados, Argentina, Switzerland, The Dominican republic and Germany. Her work is in the collections of Casa se las Américas, Havana, Cuba, Museo de las Américas, Ballaja, San juan, PR, Centro Cariforo, Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep., Fondo del Sol Visual Arts Center, Washington, D.C., Georgetown University Print Collection, Museo de Arte Moderno, and the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, VI.