Rebecca Berman
Rebecca Berman
Painter
“I joined the Art Gym in order to foster connections with the “Art World.”
Hi! I’m an artist in Denver, Colorado, where I live with my husband and two teenagers.
I’m primarily a painter – I paint with a combination of acrylic and oil and cold wax. I really like all the different effects you can get with different materials so I have never really felt like I was tied to one in particular. I paint fantastical but relatable characters – with exaggerated features and plenty of personality. I love words and stories and all of my paintings have backstories and lots of layers.
Why did you join the Art Gym? I joined the Art Gym in order to foster connections with the “Art World.” I was pretty brand-spanking new when I joined so I wasn’t even really sure what that meant at the time. I just knew that if I wanted to actually be the artist that I wanted to become, I was going to need to spend time with and learn from other artists.
How has Art Gym helped with your art practice? Just being a part of a community of like-minded people has helped me immensely. Connecting 1:1 with staff and other members through 1:1 critique and brainstorming sessions has helped me to get 3 new collections finished in the past year. I’ve also really benefited from help with printing a mini-book and photographing all of my pieces. Honestly, just stepping in the door usually inspires me.
What are you hoping to communicate through your work? What does it mean to you? I’m interested in relationships, roles and emotions – particularly those experienced by young girls and women. I love painting their portraits because it allows me to get all up in their stories and then capture a moment. I make up the past and the future in my head – but ultimately I get to pick the exact moment that this character is going to be captured in. Often, I catch them in moments of conflict or uncertainty or confusion or disappointment – and that makes them feel more relatable to me. These are emotions that we’re conditioned to keep to ourselves or mask as adults, but they are universal and so it’s easy to feel connected to them. I get to know my characters pretty well – and so I don’t worry if I catch them feeling mopey or overwhelmed…I already know they’re all going to be ok. I’m a big fan of resiliency, tenderness and humor so these themes make their way into many of my paintings.
In my own life, I’ve made some pretty meaningful pivots. In portraits, I can do this as well by adding or subtracting elements. It’s exciting to know that I can change the story just by changing an eyebrow or the corner of a mouth.
