Lynda Berman
Artist
We are so excited to introduce you to our featured artist for the September First Friday Art Walk, Lynda Berman. Come to The Art Loft this Friday, September 6th from 5-8 to meet her and enjoy her beautiful artwork. Below, please enjoy her biography, art journey and philosophy in her own words:
Teaching Journey: I began teaching art at age 17 in Orrville’s Summer Recreation Program. Fifty years later, I’m still at it. I love teaching art mostly to children but also adults in public school (over 30 years) and private art lessons, in Ohio, Alaska, Ponape, (a Pacific island,) China, and Taiwan. I was very active in my professional association serving as President of the Ohio Art Education Association 1989-1990. I am an OAEA Distinguished Fellow and I am currently coordinating the 2020 Summer Symposium which will provide two days of hands-on workshop opportunities here in Athens to art teachers from across the state.
Education: I have a BS in Art Education from BGSU and a Masters from Ohio University. My training is in print-making, watercolor, oil painting, silver-smithing, glass-blowing, sculpture, kite-making, drawing, etc. My abiding joy is working in the paper arts, primarily cut and torn paper collage but also book-making, and paper engineering.
Exhibitions: I exhibited fiber and calligraphic artwork occasionally in the 1980’s but since 2003 I have exhibited paper collages consistently at the Zanesville Art Center, Athens Public Library, Dairy Barn Arts Center, ArtsWest in Athens, Parkersburg Art Center, and eight additional sites. I exhibit annually at Lilyfest in the Hocking Hills and sell my collage cards at The Village Bakery in Athens. My collages are in collections in: Germany, France, Israel, Taiwan, Indonesia, Iraq and Mexico.
Lynda’s Philosophy: I find joy in observing nature closely and I am ready to pluck and press buds, leaves, and flowers as they appear. It is a very rich part of my life. I have always been enthralled with the unfolding of plants in their season. To capture this magic, I design small-format paper collages featuring these pressed botanicals. I try to accentuate nature’s order and beauty by layering and selecting fitting papers to create a stage for my botanical beauties.
I love paper! To enlarge my broad palette of commercial, imported and “found” papers, I have made paper from plants- yucca, iris and corn husks. I have also created patterned papers using numerous surface design techniques. Each of my collages features a distinctively different mood and color scheme determined by the bontanical speciman. I prefer intimate scale and zen-like compositions
