Anne Dushanko Dobek is an artist/activist whose multidisciplinary installations reference issues of social justice and/or the environment. Often working in alternative venues: oceans, forests, and fields her work invites social engagement as well as conversations on the status of women and refugees in an increasingly dangerous world. Her research has been supported by grants from the Puffin Foundation, the Geraldine R Dodge Foundation, Chashama and New Jersey State Council for the Arts Fellowships in 1982, 1985 and 2012.
In 2015 she received the Erena Rae Award for Art and Social Justice.
She is a frequent lecturer on topics congruent with her art production: “Shadows and Secrets”, “Art as Social Commentary” and “Artist in the Rainforest”. The latter reflects a lifelong passion for entomology and her volunteer work with scientists in Costa Rican rainforests. These efforts have been supported by fellowships from both Earthwatch and the Geraldine R Dodge Foundation.
Additional fellowships to art colonies: i-Park, Vermont Studio Center, Virginia Center for the Visual Art, Moulin au Nef and Long Beach Island Foundation facilitated the creation of her most ambitious outdoor installations some of which included light and sound. Parallel Migrations a decades long series sited in oceans evolved into Perilous Journeys and Promises, Promises.
Most significantly the complexity of “Memory Vault” Dushanko Dobek’s earliest major work which alluded to the holocaust and set a precedent for multi-referential works which invite reflection. Memory Vault was exhibited and globally reviewed when it was shown in the Lausanne Biennal at the the Musee Cantonal des Beaux Arts in Switzerland and the Gulbenkian Foundation in Brussels. The artist continues to exhibit extensively both nationally and internationally, including the Museum of Art and Design in New York, High Museum, Newark Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and other venues. Her solo exhibitions include The Bauhaus Pavilion in Berlin Germany, Chashama, Montclair Art Museum, Monmouth Museum, Pen and Brush and Windows on White.
The Montclair Art Museum, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Art and Design, National Museum of American Art, Noyes Museum, Library of the Museum of Modern Art, NYC and the Victoria and Albert Museum are among the museums which have her work in their collections.
She currently serves on the board of directors for Pen and Brush NYC notable for it’s century long commitment to the efforts of women artists and writers.