Rachel Berwick (born 1962) is an American visual artist whose sculptural installations explore themes of extinction and loss in the natural world.

Early life

Born in

Somers Point, New Jersey Somers Point is a city (New Jersey), city situated on the Jersey Shore that is the oldest settlement in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was settled by Europeans in 1693 and was incorporated as a ...

, Berwick grew up in a rural setting where she gained an appreciation for nature and biology. Berwick studied sculptural arts in the glass department at

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

. She received her B.F.A. in 1984, and her M.F.A. from

Yale School of Art The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Master of Fine Arts, Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in g ...

in 1989.

Career

Berwick teaches as a faculty member at the RISD glass department, teaching multiple studio classes. She used to be the head of the department.

Artwork

Berwick has created art installations focused on bird migrations, language transmission, and dying species, often taking inspiration from the animal world. Inspired by

Martha (passenger pigeon) Martha ( – September 1, 1914) was a passenger pigeon, the last known of her species; she was named "Martha" in honor of Martha Washington, the first lady of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Early life The history of the Cincinnati Zoo's ...

, Berwick cast 500 amber bird sculptures from a preserved passenger pigeon specimen for her installation entitled ''A Vanishing; Martha'' (2003–2005). For her living installation, entitled ''may-por-é'' (1996–present), Berwick trained parrots to mimic sounds and words from the

Maipure language Maipure (Maypure, Mejepure) is an extinct language once spoken along the Ventuari, Sipapo, and Autana rivers of Amazonas and, as a lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, t ...

, as documented in the writings and research of

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

. In her mixed-media video installation, entitled ''Lonesome George'' (2005–2010), Berwick invites the viewer to reflect upon the extinction of a species of

Galápagos tortoise The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise (''Chelonoidis niger'') is a very large species of tortoise in the genus ''Chelonoidis'' (which also contains three smaller species from mainland South America). The species comprises 15 subsp ...

. Berwick's art has been exhibited internationally and she has received many awards and fellowships, including the

Anonymous Was A Woman Award The Anonymous Was A Woman Award is a grant program for women artists who are over 40 years of age, in part to counter sexism in the art world. It began in 1996 in direct response to the National Endowment for the Arts' decision to stop funding i ...

(1996), a Smithsonian Artists Research Fellowship (2008), the Joan Mitchell Fellowship (2012), a Connecticut Artists Fellowship (2012), and a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Artists Residency (2015).

References

External links

*
Smithsonian American Art Museum Meet the Artist interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berwick, Rachel 1962 births Living people Artists from New Jersey Rhode Island School of Design alumni Yale School of Art alumni People from Somers Point, New Jersey American installation artists