College of Arts & Communication at UW-Whitewater

Please join the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater Department of Art and Design in welcoming guest author and critic Janet Koplos to campus at 7pm on Thursday, December 4th in the Greenhill Center of the Arts Room 30, for her presentation “The WORK of Art”, an illustrated lecture on the meaningfulness of the labor involved in creating art and its relevance in contemporary culture. Her lecture will include examples from all art disciplines, but will emphasize the place of contemporary craft: its role, meaning and value in culture.

Art critic and lecturer Janet Koplos was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Critics’ Fellowship in 1978, has served as a guest editor of American Craft magazine, and between 1990 – 2008 was a senior editor at Art in America magazine, where she is now a contributing editor. In addition to her extensive experience writing for national and international publications, Koplos has authored or coauthored ten books, including The Art of Toshiko Takaezu: In the Language of Silence (2011), Makers: A History of American Studio Craft (2010), Venice: Three Visions in Glass (2009), Betty Woodman (2006), Gyongy Laky (2003), and Contemporary Japanese Sculpture (1991), among others. Her broad expertise encompasses architecture, design, American craft and folk art, contemporary Japanese art, Japanese folk art, and contemporary Dutch art. Koplos has lectured widely on contemporary art issues and since 2003 held teaching and critic in residence positions at Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, University of the Arts, Parsons School of Design, University of Hawaii, and Colorado State University. She is currently in the research phase of a book focused on American functional pottery.