Portia Munson

Artists Who Collect
Portia Munson, Pink Project, 1994, detail, Installation of found pink objects, Courtesy of the artist.

Portia Munson creates painting, sculpture and installation works based on her own practice of collecting. One of her most famous work the Pink Project was created out of her endless collection of discarded objects, all of which are some shade of pink. Munson is drawn to color and the cultural connotations it brings-pink for girls, blue for boys, green for anything to do with nature, etc. Munson will often paint from still life set-ups of these collected plastic items. She does not use painting alone to express her ideas. Through installations and sculptures her ideas are enlarged, arranged and built up over a time.


I would say I’m an environmentalist and a feminist and what I mean by that is that I think that I’m really interested in this obsession with consumption that our culture has. And so a lot of my work is really looking at that. And I was born in the beginning of the sixties and just being a woman in the world, I feel fortunate to live in this country. Gender issues are definitely something I’m concerned about. Right now, my real top interest is environmental issues and how we consume so much stuff which also translates into polluting.

Portia Munson, from “Junk,” with Portia Munson featured in “Life 360” on PBS Nov. 9, 2001  


  • Environmentalism
  • Feminism
  • Gender studies

Aesthetic Response Questions:

  1. What does the color pink represent to you?
  2. Where do you think you might find similar objects as in the Pink Project? Who shops for these things?
  3. Does this piece make you feel anything? What and why?
  4. What is the artist communicating? What is her message?
  5. Evaluate whether or not you think her message is successful. Explain your evaluation.
Media and Related Items