Shannon Pultz A’93

Running for: Council

Campaign Statement

It would be a privilege to offer my years of professional experience and connections in the art world and in education to the CUAA council, and to give back to the institution that greatly influenced who and where I am today. I feel passionately about the mission and future of Cooper Union and it is truly an honor to have been nominated for this position.

Biography

Shannon Pultz received her BFA from the Cooper Union in 1994. She is an artist, designer, and educator residing in Pittsburgh, PA.

In 1992, she and a group of fellow Cooper students co-founded the artist collective Art Club2000 in collaboration with art dealer Colin de Land of American Fine Arts, Co. The group would go on to produce an exhibition for each of the next seven summers at American Fine Arts, Co. Other solo shows include a retrospective at Museo de Arte Carillo Gil (Mexico City, Mexico), and exhibitions at Galleria S.A.L.E.S. (Rome, Italy), Gallerie Forde (Geneva, Switzerland), Transmission Gallery (Glasgow, Scotland), Galerie Facsimilie (Milan, Italy), and Allgirls (Berlin, Germany). Additionally, Art Club2000 participated in numerous group exhibitions at institutions across the US and internationally. Notably, the group’s work was included in NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (2013) at The New Museum, and The Conditions of Being Art: Pat Hearn Gallery and American Fine Arts, Co. (1983-2004) at the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College (2018).

In 2020, Artists Space (NYC) presented the first comprehensive retrospective of the group’s work titled ART CLUB2000: Selected Works 1992–1999 (October 21 – January 30, 2021). The exhibition spans the group’s entire career from 1992 until their planned dissolution in 2000 and includes restagings of ART CLUB2000‘s complex and theatrical multimedia installations and site-specific mise en scène and presents extensive ephemera and research material, much of which had never been on public view. ART CLUB2000: Selected Works 1992–1999 will travel to Kunsthalle Zurich where it will open concurrently with Art Basel in September of 2021.

Shannon also worked as art critic and editor at Flash Art International in Milan, Italy and as creative lead for the internet start-up Ericsson-Proxicom joint venture Eunosia Internet Architects where she designed the first websites for companies including FIAT, Piaggio, Arthur Andersen, and various governmental entities in Rome before returning to the U.S. in 2007. After receiving her master’s degree in art education, she was recruited to chair the visual art department at her alma mater, Pittsburgh CAPA, Pittsburgh’s creative and performing arts public magnet school, where she continues to work today fostering a deep creative passion and critical eye in her students.

Shannon founded the textile company BLAK RUST (www.blakrust.com) in 2015. The company produces one-of-kind silk stoles and scarves, as well as print-to-order textiles for apparel, upholstery, and wallcoverings, blending contemporary art aesthetics with 7th century Japanese shibori silk painting techniques that are appreciated for their high quality and timeless tradition.

Shannon is the mother of two children. Her daughter, Lilian Traviato, graduated summa cum laude in philosophy with a minor in history from University of Vermont’s Honors Program and is an accomplished musician and music producer under the name of Princess Nostalgia. Her son, Niall Traviato, is a promising artist and freshman at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA. She is intensely dedicated to her children.