Perreault, John, 1937-2015

John Lucas Perreault was a poet, art curator, art critic and artist. Perreault was born in Manhattan and raised in Belmar and other towns in New Jersey. He studied briefly at Montclair State Teachers College, after which he enrolled in a poetry workshop at the New School for Social Research. His first book of poetry, Camouflage, was published in 1966, followed by Luck (1969) and Harry (1974). Perreault was an editorial associate for ARTnews in the 1960s, an art critic for The Village Voice (1966-74), and senior art critic for The SoHo Weekly News (1975-82). He also worked briefly as the chief curator at the Everson Museum (1982). From 1985 to 1989, he was the first professional curator at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art in Staten Island. He was also senior curator at the American Craft Museum (1990-93). In later years, Perreault was interested in craft and served as the executive director of UrbanGlass. From 2004 until 2014, he wrote a blog called Artopia: John Perreault's art diary.