JANET SHAPERO – Brief Bio – 2019 

Originally from Massachusetts, I attended RISD (BFA, Sculpture) and studied sculpture and woodcarving in Tuscany and the Italian Alps for seven years. I next did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (MFA, Printmaking and Sculpture; MA, Italian Literature), before being hired and then tenured as Head of the Sculpture Department at Utah State University, Logan. Since my return to the East Coast, I have taught at Maine College of Art, Mass College of Art, and Wellesley College. For eight years, I was also a Visiting Professor in the Painting Program at the University of Barcelona each spring.

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During my first teaching sabbatical, I was awarded three-month-long artist residencies – at the Blue Mountain Center (New York), Hamburger Center (Georgia), and Ragdale (Illinois) – and planned to create small models for large-scale sculpture using metal screen. At the first residency, I manipulated and sewed screen together to create forms. At the second, I began experimenting with paint on metal and fiberglass screen. By the third, I was completely captivated by the seemingly endless possibilities of combining paint and screen. For the past twenty years, I have continued this exploration by creating Rete-Chromes and Rete-Forms, my hybrid form of painting, printmaking, sculpture, and installation.