Beryl Brenner
"I am a Brooklyn artist with a BA in Fine Arts ’71 and an MA in Art Ed.’74 from Brooklyn Col. Like most professional artists, I originally studied painting and drawing as well as a wide variety of other materials. For the past 51 years I have been working in glass. I primarily work in fused glass because I found that the process offers me freedom. It allows me to develop the kind of work that I have been dreaming of. In addition to being a professional artist, I worked as an art therapist with Veterans for decades and this inspired me. The artworks that they produced explored serious topics and this encouraged me to explore serious topics in my own practice. Currently, I feel that we are living through profoundly disruptive times. It is only natural that our collective level of fear has risen substantially. Historically, artists attempt to visually communicate their personal lives as well as their environment. I have produced a number of autobiographical works that explore my own fears that are fairly universal. These works were extremely difficult and challenging to produce as fear is scary. The work forced me to dig deep into my soul. But glass is the perfect media for the project. It breaks, burns and cuts you. But it really cleans up nicely and shouts "look at me! I am different”."
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@Beryl Brenner
Fear Of Hate, 17 in w x 11 in h, Fused Glass, 2021
"I have lived through a great many things in my lifetime. Good periods as well as bad. However I have never seen so much casual hatred in our society as there is now. It defies all logic and it is a testimony to the fact we as a nation have allowed it to fester and in doing so have lost our moral compass. It is irrational and ugly. It has to stop. It is simply too destructive and cruel."
Fear Of Global Warming, 17 in w x 11 in h, Fused Glass, 2021
"Global warming is a complicated issue. Clearly the world's oceans and various lands have struggled with pollution and the destruction of nature. However, there are times when it becomes difficult to distinguish what is factual and what is hype. Much of it is very real but sadly sometimes the solutions are creating more problems than the problems themselves. A
The extreme conversation is often between zealots and indifferent people. Hopefully, we can come to some sort of solution soon because the stakes are way too high if we don't."
Fear Of Hitting A Brick Wall, 17 in w x 11 in h, Fused Glass, 2021