ContactPerreault@gmail.com
Alice Marie Perreault’s multi-media artwork is generated from ritual and accumulation. She sources materials from her drawing and painting past, combined with current medical supplies, adaptive equipment, natural forms, toys and objects of domesticity. Her process is an intimate response to culture, caretaking and physical sustainability.
Although the work is inanimate, Perreault considers some pieces, like those incorporating oil painted catheters, trach ties and medicinal bullets, to be alive or more specifically, to be living as conduits for growth. Through daily routines, the parts within these pieces multiply so each time they are experienced they appear to have grown.
Perreault was born and raised in Rochester, New York and has been making art all her life. She said, that as a child, drawing was more comfortable to her than speaking. She was born the middle of five children. The sibling to whom, she felt emotionally closest, was her sister, Renee, who lived with Downs Syndrome. The two often spent days together drawing and coloring, well into adulthood. They were very close, shared an art studio, collaborated and showed their work together.
To pursue a life in art was never a question for Perreault. She attended Rochester Institute of Technology, California College of Arts, University of Utah and Claremont Graduate University, earning distinctive BFA and MFA degrees. Her teaching history includes appointments at the University of Utah, Weber State University, Westminster College, Palomar College and Mira Costa College. Perreault said her arts administrative rolls with The Utah Arts Council and The Salt Lake City Art Center (now known as the Utah Contemporary Museum of Art) helped her develop an understanding of community art systems.
Perreault’s son is severely disabled due to an injury during labor and delivery. He depends upon medical and pharmaceutical technologies to sustain a healthy life. "Our healthcare system is complicated, in both private and non-private sectors,” she said. “Information is, often obscure, outdated or difficult to access. There is no transparency. And a hierarchy exists that can interfere with levels of care to protect positions and profitability.”
Perreault believes people can be sensitized to physical differences and frailties without feeling pity. “With sensitivity,” she said, “there is dignity that pity can’t provide.” She is interested in scientific and social supports that improve quality of life for people facing debilitating conditions. And she reminds us that circumstances having to do with aging and disabilities, cross all ethnicities, cultures, religions, social statuses, and sexual orientations. “Anyone who lives long enough will find themselves needing caretakers.”
Her art and advocacy concerns merged when Perreault founded a non-profit studio that brought together families with and without disabilities and medical frailties to uncover their unique languages through art practices. Her platform allowed families to take agency. And for this seven-year endeavor, Perreault was granted a Utah Governor's Award in the Arts. Other arts awards throughout her career include a Dr. Peter Selz Merit Award and a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Award.
“Caretaking is an intimate performance,” Perreault said, “For me, the ritual leaves relics too fascinating to waste- IV regulator valves, translucent suction tubing, purple med ports that glow in the dark. These are both life sustaining and aesthetically fascinating.” But medical references can be tough to embrace due to their connection with weakening bodies and mortality. By toying with these items in aesthetic ways, Perreault believes barriers can be circumvented to face stigmas, fears and social practices.
The respect she pays to her materials and her meticulous handling, speaks of the dignity Perreault wants more of in the multifaceted landscape of caretaking and not just in medical arenas. Currently living in Southern California, she has a young, vivacious daughter with no disability. “The manner in which I care for my daughter is quite different than for my son,” she said. “My daughter provides a measure of development and time that I did not previous have. With my son, time sort of stopped and then lingered. It’s quite remarkable, the way my daughter cuts to the chase. She’s very clear with no pretensions. I want that kind of honesty in my artwork.”
Perreault describes her work as “arrangements” that replace degeneration with “new” generation. She says that unlike re-generation, which is a return to an original state, new-generation propels new arrangements.
Be they palm sized sculptures, drawings, paintings or large installations, Perreault combines a tender sensibility under which content is heavily loaded.
Alice Marie Perreault’s multi-media artwork is generated from ritual and accumulation. She sources materials from her drawing and painting past, combined with current medical supplies, adaptive equipment, natural forms, toys and objects of domesticity. Her process is an intimate response to culture, caretaking and physical sustainability.
Although the work is inanimate, Perreault considers some pieces, like those incorporating oil painted catheters, trach ties and medicinal bullets, to be alive or more specifically, to be living as conduits for growth. Through daily routines, the parts within these pieces multiply so each time they are experienced they appear to have grown.
Perreault was born and raised in Rochester, New York and has been making art all her life. She said, that as a child, drawing was more comfortable to her than speaking. She was born the middle of five children. The sibling to whom, she felt emotionally closest, was her sister, Renee, who lived with Downs Syndrome. The two often spent days together drawing and coloring, well into adulthood. They were very close, shared an art studio, collaborated and showed their work together.
To pursue a life in art was never a question for Perreault. She attended Rochester Institute of Technology, California College of Arts, University of Utah and Claremont Graduate University, earning distinctive BFA and MFA degrees. Her teaching history includes appointments at the University of Utah, Weber State University, Westminster College, Palomar College and Mira Costa College. Perreault said her arts administrative rolls with The Utah Arts Council and The Salt Lake City Art Center (now known as the Utah Contemporary Museum of Art) helped her develop an understanding of community art systems.
Perreault’s son is severely disabled due to an injury during labor and delivery. He depends upon medical and pharmaceutical technologies to sustain a healthy life. "Our healthcare system is complicated, in both private and non-private sectors,” she said. “Information is, often obscure, outdated or difficult to access. There is no transparency. And a hierarchy exists that can interfere with levels of care to protect positions and profitability.”
Perreault believes people can be sensitized to physical differences and frailties without feeling pity. “With sensitivity,” she said, “there is dignity that pity can’t provide.” She is interested in scientific and social supports that improve quality of life for people facing debilitating conditions. And she reminds us that circumstances having to do with aging and disabilities, cross all ethnicities, cultures, religions, social statuses, and sexual orientations. “Anyone who lives long enough will find themselves needing caretakers.”
Her art and advocacy concerns merged when Perreault founded a non-profit studio that brought together families with and without disabilities and medical frailties to uncover their unique languages through art practices. Her platform allowed families to take agency. And for this seven-year endeavor, Perreault was granted a Utah Governor's Award in the Arts. Other arts awards throughout her career include a Dr. Peter Selz Merit Award and a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Award.
“Caretaking is an intimate performance,” Perreault said, “For me, the ritual leaves relics too fascinating to waste- IV regulator valves, translucent suction tubing, purple med ports that glow in the dark. These are both life sustaining and aesthetically fascinating.” But medical references can be tough to embrace due to their connection with weakening bodies and mortality. By toying with these items in aesthetic ways, Perreault believes barriers can be circumvented to face stigmas, fears and social practices.
The respect she pays to her materials and her meticulous handling, speaks of the dignity Perreault wants more of in the multifaceted landscape of caretaking and not just in medical arenas. Currently living in Southern California, she has a young, vivacious daughter with no disability. “The manner in which I care for my daughter is quite different than for my son,” she said. “My daughter provides a measure of development and time that I did not previous have. With my son, time sort of stopped and then lingered. It’s quite remarkable, the way my daughter cuts to the chase. She’s very clear with no pretensions. I want that kind of honesty in my artwork.”
Perreault describes her work as “arrangements” that replace degeneration with “new” generation. She says that unlike re-generation, which is a return to an original state, new-generation propels new arrangements.
Be they palm sized sculptures, drawings, paintings or large installations, Perreault combines a tender sensibility under which content is heavily loaded.
Alice Marie Perreault
BORN and RAISED:
Rochester, New York
EDUCATION:
Claremont Graduate University, MFA 2015
University of Utah, MFA, 1998
California College of Arts, BFA, 1988
Rochester Institute of Technology, AA, 1985
HONORS, AWARDS, GRANTS:
Residency- Shoebox Projects, Los Angeles, California, 2018
Residency- Spark Box Studio, Ontario Province, Canada, 2017
Fellowship- Claremont Graduate University, California 2014, 2015
Governor’s Award in the Arts, Utah Arts Council, 2008
KS Arts Grants 2002-2011
Utah Arts Council (National Endowment for the Arts funding);
ZAP-Zoo Arts & Parks (Salt Lake County tax dollars);
George S. & Dolores D. Eccles Foundation;
Kennecott Copper Foundation;
Amanda P. Harris H. Simmons Foundation;
Salt Lake City Arts Council
Developmental Support Grant, Salt Lake City Arts, 1998
Ethal Armstrong Rolapp Award, University of Utah, 1997
Gittins Fellowship Award, University of Utah, 1996-1997
Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Award, 1995
Dr. Peter Selz Award of Merit, San Francisco, California, 1988
Helen B. Jacot Memorial Scholarship, Oakland, California, 1986
California College of Arts Studio Award, 1986
SELECTED TEACHING APPOINTMENTS & ASSISTANTSHIPS:
Claremont Graduate University, CA (TA), 2015
Scripps College, CA (TA), 2014, 2015
Pomona Collage, CA (TA), 2014
University of La Verne, CA (TA), 2014
University of Utah, UT (Adjunct), 1996-1999
Weber State University, UT (Adjunct), 1997-1999
Westminster College, UT (Adjunct) 1999-2003
KS Studio, UT (Director, Program Writer, Teaching Artist) 2002-2011
Mira Costa Collage, CA (Community Education), 1990-1994
Palomar College, CA (Community Education), 1990-1994
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE:
Curatorial Work, 2003-Current
KS Studio, UT (501c-3 Founder, Director), 2002-2011
Utah Arts Council (Utah Arts and Museum Services, Visual Arts Program), 1997-1999
Contemporary Art Museum, SLC, UT, Formerly: SLC Art Center (Curator of Education), 1995-1997
SELECTED SHOWS:
One Step Removed (working title) Flux Art Space, Long Beach, CA Curator Betsy Lohrer Hall, 2019
Physical Presence (A Dialog with Residual and Surrounding Space), East Gallery, Claremont Graduate
University, CA Curator: Rachel Lachowicz, 2019
Breaking Illusion: Artist as Scientist, East Gallery, Claremont Graduate University, CA (Group)
Curator: Conchi Sanford, 2018
Manifesto: A Modest Proposal (Gentrification, Immigration, Race, Ageism, Ableism, Suffrage, Religion,
Incarnation, Resistance) Pitzer College Art Galleries, Claremont, CA (Group) Curators: Ciara Ennis,
Jennifer Vanderpool, 2018
Three Bodies, Peggy Phelps Gallery, Claremont, CA (3 Person) Curator: Self, 2017
plus one, softcore. LA Museum of Broken Relationships, CA (Group) Curator: Megan St. Clair, 2017
ECHO, East Gallery, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA (Group) 2016
CRIBBED, East Gallery, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA (Solo) 2015
SOUP, East Gallery, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA (Group) 2015
three nice words, East Gallery, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA (Group) 2014
The Rose Show Invitational, George Cutress/Main Street Gallery,Pomona, CA (Group) 2012
Art For Cause- Invitational, Patrick Moore Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (Group) 2010
GIFTS, Art Access Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (Solo) 2008
Women’s Week- Invitational, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (Solo) 2007
The Feminine View of the Landscape, Art Access Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (Group) 2007
Design Arts Utah, Rio Grande Gallery, Juror: Tucker Viemeister, Studio Red, Rockwell Group,
Salt Lake City, UT (Group) 2007
Introspective/Retrospective: Two Decades of the Rolapp Award From The Rolapp Collection in the
Utah Museum of Fine Art, U of U Department of Art and Art History, Salt Lake City, UT (Group) 2006
300 Plates, Art Access Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (Group) 2004, 2005
JULIUS: The Eleventh Day, Eccles Art Center, Ogden, UT (Solo) 2001
NO ME, Finch Lane Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (Solo) 1998
Women’s Work, Olpin Union Gallery, University of Utah, Curator: Lance Duffin, Salt Lake City, UT
(Group) 1999
Cultural Icon or Not, Saint George Art Museum, Saint George, UT (Four-Person) 1998
Glendinning Gallery, Utah Arts Council, Salt Lake City, UT (Group) 1998
A Woman’s Place Bookstore & Gallery, Curator: Suzanne Simpson, Salt Lake City, UT (Solo) 1998
Upwards Downs: A Path of Two Sisters, Art Access Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (Two-Person) 1998
Excavations, Jewett Center, West Minster College, Chair/Curator: Craig Glidden, Salt Lake City, UT
(Two-Person) 1998
Love, Hate & The Absence of Either, Museum of Arts Downtown Los Angeles, Director: Madla Hruza,
Los Angeles, CA (Group) 1998
Surface Inc. / Back Alley Gallery, Curators: Peter Stromeyer, Cordell Taylor, Salt Lake City, UT
(Group) 1997
Bodily Housed, Alvin Gittins Gallery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (Solo) 1997
AAUW, American Association of University Women, Juror: Sandy Harthorn, Boise Art Museum, ID,
Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT (Group) 1997
Flesh & Stone, Olpin Union Gallery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (Solo) 1995
71st Salon, Jurors: Lee Deffebach, Marcus G.C. Halliwell, Springville Museum of Art, Springville, UT
(Group) 1995
American Dream, Hyde Gallery, Grossmont College, Curator: Jim Wilsermann, El Cajon, CA (Solo)1994
Cypress College Invitational, Curator: Jay Sagon, Cypress, CA (Group) 1993
Horizons, Kruglak Gallery, Mira Costa College, Director: Michael Portera, Oceanside, CA (Group) 1993
San Diego Art Institute, Juror: Ruth Snyder, Balboa Park, San Diego, California (Group) 1992
Boundaries, Kruglak Gallery, Mira Costa College, Curator: Michael Portera, Oceanside, CA (Solo)1992
Small Works, California Museum of Art, Burbank Center, Santa Rosa, California (Group) 1991
New Works, Denis R. Smith & Associates, Juror: Dr. Peter Selz, University of Berkeley, San Francisco,
CA (Group) 1988
Bowling Gorilla, The Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA (Group) 1988
Edge, Isabel Percy West Gallery, California College of Arts, Oakland, CA (Two-Person Show) 1988
CURATORIAL WORK:
ARTCRIB 18, Artcrib at Bonehouse Bridge, Claremont, CA, June, 2018
Three Bodies, Peggy Phelps Gallery, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, Nov, 2017
PAINTED DREAMS, Cordell Taylor Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT, June 7- 18, 2011
THE ATC MOVEMENT, Whitmore Library, Salt Lake City, UT, February 24- April 15, 2011
REALIZING RELIEF, Nobrow Cafe Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT, November, 2008
BOXED MUSIC, So Cupcake, Salt Lake City, UT, March, 2008
TILED, Primary Children’s Medical Center, Emergency Department, Salt Lake City, UT, December, 2007
ME DOLLS (Soft Sculpture, Self Portraits), KS Art Studio Gallery, Sugar House, UT, June, 2007
MOBILITY, Art Access Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT, September 21 - October 12, 2007
PULL UP A CHAIR, Nostalgia Cafe, Salt Lake City, UT, November, 2006
IF SKIES COULD TALK (Pop Up, Moveable Books) Kings English Bookshop, Salt Lake City, UT,
August, 2006
FEELING MOSIAC (Tile Work) Nostalgia Cafe, Salt Lake City, UT, November 14- December 5, 2005
SIGHT UNSEEN (Digital Photography) Zions Bank, Main Branch, Salt Lake City, UT
September 12- 30, 2005
FACT AND FICTION OF PAPIER MACHE (Paper Sculpture) Rio Grand Depot Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT,
May 16- June 10, 2005
SIGHT, SOUND, TEXTURE, COLOR, VIBRATION, KS Art Studio Gallery, Sugar House, UT, June, 2004
ARTS OF MEXICO Why do I need feet to walk, when I have wings to fly? (Body Casts) KS Art Studio
Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT, March, 2004
PAINT AND CHARACTER, KS Art Studio Gallery, Sugar House, UT, May, 2003
PRINTMAKING FOR KS, KS Art Studio Gallery, Sugar House, UT, March, 2003
PUBLICATIONS (Print, Media, Reviews)
Hyperallergic, "A View From The Easel." January 24, 2019
The STEAM Journal, "A New Generation for Art and Science" (MS # 1176), November 30, 2017
UNITED PROJECTS NEWSLETTER, Ideas and Documents in Process, Issue XXVI, April 2017
ArtBlitz Los Angeles, On Line Art and Culture Publication, July 25, 2017
MULTI MEDIUM, Features, Jamie Solis, ie weekly.com/multimedium, November 26, 2012;
KSL, Channel 5, Peter Rosen, “Unique Art Experience,” June 24, 2011;
KUTV 2, Executive Producer, Steve Hertzke, “Kindred Spirits,” March 2011;
KUTV 2, Peter Rosen, “Fresh Look on Life,” January 2008;
The LIfe & Times of a TV Reporter, Peter Rosen Blog, “What’s Wrong with Julius?” December 25, 2008;
Deseret News, SLC, UT, Susan Whitney, “Women’s Week-Diversity of Motherhood”, March 7, 2007;
Deseret News, SLC, UT, Tammy Walquist, “Children with Special Needs Learn To Express Themselves
Through Art,” March 23, 2007;
Exceptional Parent Magazine, Johnstown, PA, Perreault, “KS: An Integrated Arts Organization,” (Quality
Arts Education) September 2007;
Zion’s Community Magazine, SLC, UT, Breeann Berger, “Kindred Spirits,” January/February 2006;
The Salt Lake Tribune, SLC, UT, Elizabeth Neff, “Fighting for Funding-Advocacy for the Disabled,”
Feb. 28, 2006;
The Salt Lake Tribune, SLC, UT, “Parents Fill Health Care Gap,” Brandon Griggs, Nov 6, 2006;
KSL Radio, SLC, Utah, Fred Ball, “Speaking on Business,” Oct. 13, 2005;
Family Voice Magazine, SLC, UT, “Arts for Everyone,” Utah Arts Council 2005;
Salt Lake Tribune, SLC, UT, Sheena McFarlane, “Children Discover Abilities Through Art Studio,”
July 25, 2005;
Deseret News, SLC, UT, Dave Gagon, “Studio Aims to Help the Brain Through Art,” May 7, 2004;
Children’s Neurobiological Solutions Fndn News, “Our Waiting Game Finds Kindred Spirits,”
Feb 19, 2003;
Deseret News, SLC, UT, Dave Gagon, June, 1998;
Fresh Look on Life, Peter Rosen, KUTV 2, 1998;
Deseret News, SLC, UT, Dave Gagon, September, 1997;
Salt Lake Tribune, SLC, UT, Frank McEntire, June, 1997;
Private Eye Weekly, SLC, UT, Ben Fulton, May, 1997;
Deseret News, SLC, UT, Dave Gagon, January, 1995;
The Salt lake Tribune, SLC, UT, Opinion- Public Forum, “Importance of the Arts,” Jan. 5, 1995
Family Voice Magazine, March, April, 2005;
Union Tribune, San Diego, CA, January, 1994;
Blade-Citizen, No. County San Diego, CA, July, 1992
SERVICE TO COMMUNITY:
Claremont Graduate University Art Alumni Committee Volunteer, 2018-current;
Utah Public Art- Invited selection committee member for public art commissions, 2011;
Utah Non-Profits Association, 2005-2011;
Family Centered Care Advisory Council Member: Primary Children’s Medical Center, Utah, 2007- 2011;
Juror: Utah Arts Festival, 1999; Utah State University, 2004; Utah Arts Council Arts in Education, 2010;
Disability Community Alliance for Legislative Advocacy, 2006;
Family Links Conference, UT 2006; Family Voices/Health, Human Services, Washington DC, 2007;
Utah Family Voices: Health & Development Fair, Utah, 2008;
Artist’s Equity Association, CA, San Diego ChapterPresident: 1993-1994.
