J. Morgan Puett. Hahira, Georgia 1957. BFA 1981, painting/sculpture; MFA 1984 sculpture/experimental filmmaking  – The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 

Puett is a multi-disciplinary creative producer with accomplished work in sculptural installation art practices, clothing and interior design, architecture, film, photography, and other fine art  – rearranging their intersections by applying research-based methods and disciplinary conceptual tools including history, biology, new economies, design, textiles, and importantly, in collaboration.  

Morgan’s early work as an installation artist in graduate school forged new territory by intervening into the fashion system with a series of event-based storefront installations of clothing/dwelling/making in Manhattan during the eighties and nineties; then she produced a long series of research installations about histories of the needle trade industries and labor systems for museums and art centers around the world. These past and present works are innovations in the realm of new social engagement in contemporary art. 

 Puett is the architect of the landscape project, Mildred’s Lane 1997, which continues to forge new ground citing that‘being is profoundly a social and political practice.’ Puett started the Pedagogical Sessions at Mildred’s Lane in 2008 in collaboration with colleagues convening there. These sessions continue swarm around social and ecological topics with ‘sending institutions’ world-wide. Mildred’s Lane is now a nonprofit organization, 2025. 

 Puett has received several awards including: The Magdalena Abakanowicz Arts and Culture 2019, 2021, & 2022; The Pollock-Krasner Foundation 2017; John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 2016; The Brown Foundation Fellowship/Dora Maar 2016; The John and Marva Warnock Foundation 2014: The United States Artists Simon Fellow 2011; The Smithsonian Institution Artist Research Fellowship 2009: The Anonymous Was A Woman Award 2005, The PEI in Philadelphia, for ‘The Lost Meeting’ 2005.

Puett exhibits, lectures, and teaches extensively in select venues that include Djanogly Gallery, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham, UK 2024; The Victoria and Albert Museum of Design, Dundee, Scotland 2023; Hauser and Wirth Somerset, England 2018; Sullivan Galleries Art Institute of Chicago 2014; MoMA, New York 2012-13; Musashimo Art University, Tokyo 2012; Contemporary Art Center, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia 2012; Creative Time, NYC 2011; Queens Museum of Art, NYC 2010; MoMA, NYC 2010; Alexander Gray and Assoc 2005, 2006, 2010; The School of the Art Institute of Chicago 2008; University of Venice, Italy 2005; American Fine Arts Co, NYC 2004; ARTEX, Arnhem, Netherlands 2004; Wave Hill, Bronx, NYC; The Fabric Workshop and Museum of Philadelphia 2003-4; Mass MoCA ( Museum of Contemporary Art), MA. 2004; Spoleto, USA, Charleston, SC, 2002; The Serpentine Gallery & Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2001. Her work is in the Tate Modern in London, The Fabric Workshop and Museum of Philadelphia and in the Museum of Fine Art, Philadelphia amongst others.

Puett’s Curatorial Projects include Mildred’s Lane – Sessions with collaborating institutional exhibitions; The Mildred Complex(ity) Project Space; and A Guide to the Field* projects. 

Puett currently is living with her son, Grey Rabbit Puett, (b. 2000,) working, learning, and teaching in Pennsylvania at Mildred’s Lane that she co-founded with Mark Dion. 

PRESS

News: 

Recently, Puett is the recent recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award 2016 and the Brown Foundation Fellowship at Dora Maar House, Southern France 2016.

The Art Assignment is a weekly PBS Digital Studios production hosted by curator Sarah Green. We take you around the U.S. to meet working artists and solicit assignments from them that we can all complete. Check for new episodes every Thursday!

J. Morgan Puett: A Practice of Be(e)ing

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