Baruch College Professor Zoe Sheehan Saldaña has earned a Harpo Foundation Direct Grant for her independent work as a visual artist

Zoe Sheehan Saldaña

“I’m honored to be in such good company. The other artists who received the award make very strong work and represent a diversity of challenging approaches to art-making,” says Sheehan Saldaña, who will use the $4,000 grant to create new art work.

Sheehan Saldaña teaches various classes in the Fine and Performing Arts Department at Baruch College’s Weissman School of Arts and Sciences including graphic design, digital photography, and three-dimensional design. She also teaches an interdisciplinary arts course through Macaulay Honors College at the City University of New York.

“I find that my teaching works best when I am direct, open, demanding, responsive, inquisitive, energetic, and attentive. I hope to inspire the same in my students,” says the award-winning professor.

Sheehan Saldaña creates different forms of art from sculpture, photography, to design, and more.

“I fabricate functional, handmade, faithful duplicates of mass-produced objects. I then release my creations into environments where they risk going unnoticed,” says Sheehan Saldaña. “This is a parallel to the obscuring of labor in post-industrial America, and a counterpoint to spectacle culture. My work considers the connections between labor, value, utility, and the production of meaning in contemporary art and life.”

Sheehan Saldaña’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and featured in such publications as the New York Times, Journal of Modern Craft, Title Magazine, and Philadelphia Inquirer. She holds a B.A. in Art History and Spanish Language & Literature from Oberlin College, and a MFA in Imaging Arts and Sciences from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

The Harpo Foundation was established in 2006 and seeks to stimulate creative inquiry and to encourage new modes of thinking about art. The Foundation’s grant program awards 7-10 grants annually. Grants are made directly to artists to support their development and to non-profit organizations in support of new work by artists. The Foundation also supports two residency fellowship programs.

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About Baruch College:

Baruch College is a senior college in the City University of New York (CUNY) with a total enrollment of more than 17,000 students, who represent 160 countries and speak more than 100 languages. Ranked among the top 15% of U.S. colleges and the No. 5 public regional university, Baruch College is regularly recognized as among the most ethnically diverse colleges in the country. As a public institution with a tradition of academic excellence, Baruch College offers accessibility and opportunity for students from every corner of New York City and from around the world.  For more about Baruch College, go to http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/.