Artist Statement
Across places and seasons, natural twists of trees and branches, skin like textures of their trunks, vibrant colors of the earth, and life around me capture my imagination. I am intrigued by the similarity of nature and the human experience, which at times is fluid and rhythmic and in other instances reflects abrupt and surprising changes.
In my work, my hands become the tools of my imagination manipulating varied textures to weave together the threads of that connection. A branch becomes another form of life, driftwood resembles old bones, nature and human forms become one. At times the task of pulling together these threads into some sort of cohesive expression seems overwhelming, but I have tried to capture the stirrings I have felt in response to my environment and my place in it. I continue to be drawn to mixed media as a way of expressing those responses.
The continuous layering of photographic images, original prints, paint and other textures through cutting, tearing, moving, and gluing allows me to navigate the essence of ambiguity and complexity that I witness in the world around me.
More About Tina
Tina Bernstein is a mixed media artist. She attended The High School of Music and Art and later received her BFA with a concentration in sculpture from Boston University’s School of Fine Arts. Tina later earned a M.Ed. from the Creative Arts In Learning Program at Lesley University.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Tina spent several years sharing her love for painting, drawing, clay, Papier Mache and other media through teaching teenagers, senior citizens in a community center in Brooklyn, as well as young children at a summer camp. She exhibited in the Community Gallery at The Brooklyn Museum and the annual Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibition.
After moving to Lexington, MA in the late nineties, her interest shifted to printmaking and mixed media. Her work explored the power of art as a vehicle for creating community and as a voice for social justice and multicultural expression. After traveling to Cuba, where see encountered the mosaic work of Jose Fuster, Tina also introduced mosaics to her repertoire.
In Lexington, Tina was featured in an exhibit entitled, “Arts for Peace and Justice.” She was one of several juried artists to participate in a solo exhibition at The Minuteman Library in 2006.
The summer of 2008, another move took Tina to Louisville, KY. She joined the Louisville Artisans Guild and The Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists (LAFTA). Her work was featured in The Mazin Juried Exhibition at the JCC Patio Gallery in 2009. In the same year, she received Honorable Mention in the Louisville Artisans Guild exhibition. Her work was accepted in a juried LAFTA exhibition at Actor’s Theater and the Krempp Gallery in Jasper Indiana in 2010.
In the early fall of 2011, Tina returned to the Northeast and settled in Maplewood, NJ. After moving to New Jersey, Tina had an opportunity to exhibit her work in Maplewood as part of the SOMA studio tour, in 1978 Maplewood Arts Center, Gaelen Juried Art Exhibition at JCC Metrowest, the Monmouth Museum in Lincroft NJ, State of the Art in Montclair, NJ, Open Orange at the Firehouse Gallery, Orange, NJ, Kittay House in the Bronx, NY and The Blue Door Gallery in Yonkers, NY.
Tina recently resettled in the beautiful Hudson Valley. She is now living in Beacon NY and is looking forward to forging new connections in the arts community there.