Helen Cozza

Helen Cozza is a contemporary American artist who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was born Helen Gannetti in 1956 in Auburn, New York. She received a bachelor’s degree in Art Education from the State University College at Buffalo, New York in 1978 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art - Printmaking from the University of New Mexico in 2007.
Cozza’s work is inspired by architecture and shadow. She began working as a painter and moved into printmaking when she discovered she could more quickly achieve the effects she was looking for through various printmaking methods. Much of her printmaking references buildings during their construction or deconstruction. As a child, the house Cozza lived in was always in a state of flux with unpainted drywall, exposed lathe board, and scaffolding and she was strongly influenced by the literal rebuilding of a house. The constant upheaval in her house became a symbol for the confusion she felt when she recognized she was different. Since she had no model of what it meant to be a lesbian, she was always trying different ways to construct herself. She constructs sculptural prints by adhering her intaglio and lithographic prints onto three-dimensional surfaces. The attached prints serve to reinforce the sculptural elements and to offer a narrative, visual language that connects both.
Her work has been featured in two journal articles including Art Education , 2010 and on the cover and accompanying article of the Journal of LGBT Youth [http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t792306904~db=all] in 2007. Cozza is currently an Adjunct Professor of Art at the University of New Mexico .

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