Janet Rickus
Artist Bio Artist Work
Janet Rickus (b. 1949, Chicopee, MA) received her education from Central Connecticut State University. However, when it comes to painting, she was mostly self-taught, developing an aesthetic that is purely her own. Focusing on still life painting, Rickus sets up compositions with fruits, vegetables, and vessels that seem to be in communication with one another. She says that “the first steps of a still life painting, the pre-painting choices and care that go into setting up a composition, are the most crucial ones for me and often the most difficult. There’s a lot of trial and error involved in getting all the parts to make a whole, cohesive composition. [...] The items are then arranged with an eye on colors, tones, textures, abstract design, and negative space, with objects overlapping, touching, and leaning to create the feeling and mood of the painting—all done with a dose of affection.” The results showcase her style that is crisp, subdued, and thoughtful.
Rickus has had many solo and group shows, including an exhibition at the Berkshire Museum in Massachusetts. She was the recipient of the 2006 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant, and her work is in a wide range of private collections.
Click HERE to read about Janet Rickus: Selected Works at the Springfield Art Museum
Click HERE to see Janet Rickus, recipient of the prestigious Painting Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council
Click HERE to read about Janet Rickus in the E-zine Artodyssey
Click HERE to read about Janet Rickus in the Science Musings Blog
Education
1971 B.S., Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT
Awards
2006
Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant in Painting
Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
2025
2 Women, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2020
Janet Rickus: Recent Paintings, Gallery Henoch & Bernay Fine Arts, Great Barrington, MA
2019
Museum of Art – Deland, FL
2017
Janet Rickus: Recent Paintings, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2014
Quidley & Company, Nantucket, MA
2013
Radical Traditionalism, Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA
Janet Rickus, Stanley Bielen, Harrison Gallery, Williamstown, MA
2012
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Janet Rickus, David Furman, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2011
Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2009
Figure & Form, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2007
Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, NY
2005
Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, NY
2003
Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, NY
2000
Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA
Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, NY
1998
Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, NY
1996
Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, NY
1993
Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, NY
1991
Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025
Summer Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Winter Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2024
Art Miami, Miami, FL
Still Life, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Winter Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2023
Holiday Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Art Miami, Miami, FL
Natural World, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Summer Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Contemporary Classics, Kauffman Gallery, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA
Winter Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2022
Amusing Still Lifes Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Seattle Art Fair, Seattle, WA
Winter Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2021
ArtMiami, Miami, FL
Still Life 2021, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Winter Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2020
Scope Immersive Miami Beach
Summer Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Winter Exhibition, Bernay Fine Arts, Great Barrington, MA
Winter Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2019
ArtMiami, Miami, FL
The Female Eye, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Summer Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Art New York, NY
Dallas Art Fair, TX
Winter Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2018
ArtMiami: Context, Miami, FL
Chosen Objects, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Art New York, NY
Dallas Art Fair, TX
Winter Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2017
ArtMiami: Context, Miami, FL
Marjory Reid Plus Two, Tremaine Gallery, Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, CT
Context Art New York, NY
Dallas Art Fair, TX
Winter Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2016
ArtMiami: Context, Miami, FL
Fall Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Dallas Art Fair, TX
50 Years a Dealer: George Henoch Shechtman, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2015
ArtMiami: Context, Miami, FL
Still Life, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Summer Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Dallas Art Fair, TX
Winter Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2014
ArtMiami: Context, Miami, FL
Dallas Art Fair, TX
Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA
American Realists, Harrison Gallery, Williamstown, MA
Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2013
ArtMiami: Context, Miami, FL
Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Still Life Lives, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
2012
Winter Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Dallas Art Fair, TX
Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2011
Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Group Exhibition 6, Morrison Gallery, Kent, CT
2010
Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Singles, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Gt. Barrington, MA
Couples, Leslie Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Dallas Art Fair, TX
2009
Art of the 20th Century, New York, NY
Still Lifes, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
Teapots: Interpretations, Leslie Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
ArtHamptons, Bridgehampton, NY
Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2008
Collaborations, Leslie Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
Hot Spit, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Gt. Barrington, MA
Paintings by Award-Winning Massachusetts Artists, ArtSpace Gallery, Maynard, MA
2007
We Were Here, We Were There, Leslie Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
Massachusetts Cultural Council Grantwinners Exhibition, MCLA Gallery 51, North Adams, MA
2002
Loss and Ardor, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Gt. Barrington, MA
2001
The Discerning Eye, Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, NY
Waiting List, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Gt. Barrington, MA
1999
USArtists, The 33rd Street Armory, Philadelphia, PA
1998
USArtists, The 33rd Street Armory, Philadelphia, PA
1997
Carone Gallery, Fort Lauderdale, FL
USArtists, The 33rd Street Armory, Philadelphia, PA
1996
USArtists, The 33rd Street Armory, Philadelphia, PA
1995
Carone Gallery, Fort Lauderdale, FL
1994
Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, NY
Rehs Gallery, New York, NY
1993
Three Women in a Caboose, Paris-New York-Kent Gallery, Kent, CT
1991
Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, NY
1990
Cacophony, Spazi Fine Art, Housatonic, MA
Flowers, Still Lifes, and Garden Views, Rehs Gallery, New York, NY
Images and Objects, Park Plaza Castle, Boston, MA
1989
Still Life Now, Creative Arts Center, New Haven, CT (curated by Janet Fish)
1987
Store Hill Gallery, South Egremont, MA
1985
Store Hill Gallery, South Egremont, MA
1984
Birch Mountain Gallery, South Egremont, MA
Selected Bibliography
2023
Lauren Levato Coyne, “Janet Rickus paints the objects that are connected to our daily lives,” Berkshire Eagle, March 31
2019
Tora Baker, “The Female Eye,” Creative Boom, August 5
Keith Shaw, “X marks the spot,” Berkshire Eagle, May 3
2016
“Exemplary Offerings,” American Art Collector, June
“Still Life,” Gail Leggio, American Arts Quarterly, Winter
John A. Parks, “Stylish Depths,” The Artist’s Magazine, Jan/Feb
2014
“It’s Easy Being Green,” Berkshire Magazine, Spring
“Still Life Paintings, Janet Rickus,” The Artful Mind, Winter
2013-14
“Berkshire Museum Presents ‘Radical Traditionalism’ with Colin Brandt and Janet Rickus,” The Country and Abroad Magazine, Winter
2013
“Turn the past into the future: ‘Radical Traditionalism’ opens at Berkshire Museum,” Christopher Marcisz, The Berkshire Eagle, November 7
2012
“Janet Rickus,” Keith Shaw, Artscope Magazine, March/April
2011
“Janet Rickus at Henoch,” Raymond J. Steiner, Art Times Blog, December
Cynthia Nadelman, “Group Exhibition 6,” ARTnews, September
2010
Keith Shaw, “A Mix of Marriages - ‘couples’ exhibition features a wealth of talent and variety,” Artscope Magazine, July/August
Tresca Weinstein, “Art Review: ‘Couples’ and Susan Mikula's ‘American Vale’ at the Ferrin Gallery,” Berkshire Living, July 3
2009
Keith Shaw, “Masks, rebuses, spouts and skyscrapers,” Berkshire Eagle, August 6
Chet Raymo, “Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty,” Science Musings Blog, May 26, 2006
Tony Dobrowolski, “Artist Wins Grant,” Berkshire Eagle, June 25
2003
Marjorie Garber, “Quotation Marks,” pp. 4, 84-85, 89-94, 96, 100. Routledge
2002
Gloria Russell, “Speaking Art,” Springfield Sunday Republican, January 6
2001
Gloria Russell, “MFA Still Life Exhibit,” Springfield Sunday Republican, July 8
1998
David and Mary Verzi, “Live Models,” The Paper, July
1996
“The Market,” Art & Antiques, October Centre Pompidou, colloquium, femininmasculin, lecture by Marjorie Garber, slide illustrations by Janet Rickus, February 2-6, Paris, France; also Rice University, Texas, March
1995
Marjorie Garber, Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life, pp. 228, 521, 527, 528, and cover reproduction, Simon & Schuster, 1995
Roger Hurlburt, Season Preview. Ft Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, December 8
David and Mary Verzi, “Still Life Artist,” Berkshire Eagle, July 16
1994
Henry Meninger, cover art, HomeStyle Magazine, June
1993
Vivien Raynor, “In Kent: 2 Galleries, 3 Sit, 4 Shows,” New York Times, August 15
Peggy Reeves, “The Magic of Art in Egremont,” Berkshire Record, August 6
1989
Dennis Fawcett, “Still Lifes Breach Traditional Boundaries,” New Hampshire Register, May 28