Jody Pinto


Jody Pinto is an environmental artist internationally known for her site-specific public works. In her work as a feminist activist she founded WOAR.

Early life and education

Jody Pinto was born in New York City in 1942. She attended Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, winning the William Emlen Cresson Memorial Travel Scholarship while she was there which funded travels throughout Europe after her graduation. She earned her BFA from Philadelphia College of Art.

Work

Pinto's early works confront nature in work performances such as the 1976 digging piece Triple Well Enclosure, which explores excavation and entombment.

Public Art

In 1987 Pinto completed her first large-scale permanent public art work Fingerspan.
In 2008 Pinto completed a permanent work at the Third Street/Convention Center station in Charlotte, NC. The work consists of 20 illuminated fiberglass canopies that provide light and also serve as shelter for users during inclement weather. The canopies range in height from,, and and are either green or berry in color.

WOAR

Jody Pinto founded the rape crisis center Women Organized Against Rape in 1972. WOAR was the first center to organize city institutions to prosecute rape as a crime. Pinto served as director until 1974. WOAR continues its work today partnering with community in its mission to eliminate sexual violence and provide services to any who have experienced it.

Awards and Fellowships

Pinto won a National Endowment for the Arts Award in 1979. In 1994 she received a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant.

Selected Exhibitions

Pinto's work was included in Extended Sensibilities, "the first exhibition to address homosexuality as a subject in art", at The New Museum in New York in 1982.

Collections

Pinto's work is held in many permanent collections including:
Pinto began teaching at PAFA in 1978. While there she started the first visiting artist program to bring contemporary artists to speak at the school. She taught at PAFA for 40 years, retiring in 2018.