Women at the Helm

Beyond the Paint with Bernadine is adding new monthly episodes centered on a book I am writing. Writing is the vehicle I want to use to bring into my reader, the ways art has transported me and shaped me into the woman I want to be and into the life I want to live. Experiencing art is my spiritual and intellectual practice of feeling and being alive. My hope is for you to be open to the ways art c...

Painter Alex Bigatti crosses the boundaries between realism and abstraction in her gestural or action paintings. Dive in with me in her boundless joy expressed through vivid colors and broken brushwork. You will also hear from the artist herself, including her insights into the symbolic meanings she explores from her subject onto the canvas. . Visit Alex at her website: www.alexbigattiart.com Foll...

Leslie C. Sotomayor is an artist who expresses visual narratives of her own story as a Latin American woman. Her research work includes her role as educator, curator alongside an artistic practice of making works of art. She articulates the struggles and challenges of other Latin American women artists, representing their unique commonality; "lived experiences as a Latin American woman and all the...

Journey with me through the flat planes, shapes and curvaceous edges bursting with vivid colors in the compositions by contemporary Brazilian artist Ariana Tavares. Works highlighted include the painting, "Monstera," from her Tropical series and includes an insightful conversation with the artist. . Resources for this podcast episode are listed in my website: www.beyondthepaint.net Please visit Ar...

Explore textiles in the visual expression through the practice of contemporary artist Jean Rill-Alberto. Her Stitch Meditation series are small, intimate pieces, surfaced textured of geometric and organic shapes and forms. Creating with textiles and paper, the act of stitching became a kind of therapy for the artist, especially during the pandemic. This episode includes a conversation with the art...

Contemporary artist and sculptor "creates organic and abstract objects using clay and found or repurposed materials." She incorporates personal experiences, her wonderful process of sketching forms, employing her intuition and then with clay in hand, mold bodies that are both abstract and figural, that draw from the feminine divine and abstraction. This episode includes a conversation with the art...

Journey through two views of the female body through the artistic visions of two Latin American artists: Zilia Sanchez and Tarsila do Amarel. . Resources for this podcast episode include the writings of Natasha Moura, Joyce Beckenstein, Alex Pilcher, Alexxa Gohardt, Dr Maya Jimenez, Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago and curator/historian Luis Perez-Oramas. . Visit my website at beyond...

Photographer Joli Livaudais combines her love of photography with the art of origami. Her site-specific installation "All That I Love" is composed of over 1,500 paper beetles scurrying across the floor, trailing up the white walls and even the ceiling. . Resources for this podcast include the writings of Sean Clancy, the Joli Livaudais website, Museum of Modern Art, National Museum of Women in the...

Artist and illustrator Laerta Premto fuses drawing and her wanderlust in her illustrations of architecture. She transfers her observations of “place” onto the paper. We explore her illustrated series of architectural gems in Hartford, Connecticut. In her illustrations, Laerta captures the beauty of Connecticut’s capital city through her observations as a city dweller. , Resources for this podcast...

To celebrate my 100th episode, I take you through my personal journey into the visual arts and the women artists that shaped me to live more boldly. Highlighted is the first woman to toss me from complacency to creating my own artistic path: Louise Nevelson. . I also announce the winners of the 100th Episode Celebration Giveaway. Thank you to everyone who took part and for your support of my effor...

I am taking a short sabbatical to prepare for a couple of exciting initiatives here on the podcast including the 100th episode and a free online course. . In the meantime, please enjoy an archived episode, number 57 celebrating the photographer Ruth Bernard. . Special thanks to artists: Laurence de Valmy https://www.laurencedevalmy.com/ Made by Women https://www.madebywomen.co.uk/

In my celebration and conversation with contemporary artist Kathryn Hart, you will experience her sculptures, room sized installations and photography very collaboratively. Meaning you, the viewer or spectator, look and see the works from multiple angles. You walk around them to see all the sides and layers that allow a space for you to insert your own experiences; a very interactive looking exper...

The medium video art gives artists the freedom to create works outside the gallery or museum space, opening avenues to record, document their performances and to be own producers and distributors. For female artists, incorporating video art into their performance works becomes a means of self-expression and the exploration of female imagery. . Resources for this episode include Jillian Mayer websi...

Using place as her canvas, Japanese contemporary artist Chiharu Shiota creates a new visual plane in her monumental installations. She suspends networks of media, from used everyday objects to her signature red and black threads strung across entire spaces, tying individual narratives together. It is as if she is painting in midair. Come, journey with me into her universes of bellowing and drippin...

The contemporary artist, curator, writer, designer Sally Brown amplifies her feminist voice and "intent" through evocative body prints. Her body becomes the sculptural medium. In this deep universal exploration of the body, Brown finds her way as a "woman, mother, sensual being at one with my body and self." Resources for this episode include Sally Brown; sallyjanebrown.com, Brooklyn Museum, Museu...

Photographer and performance artist Renee Cox reclaims black and brown representations of women, deconstructing racial stereotypes that have historically "seeped through our Western consciousness." . This episode also celebrates the figural work of contemporary painter Peter C. Bustin--learn why he is the first male artist highlighted in this series. :) . Resources for this episode include writing...

There is a fascinating link between women artists who get their voices across through the use of text within art. Words become an image. Contemporary female artist Meg Hitchcock "examines and dissects the word of God, deconstructing a sacred text by cutting its individual letters, and reassembling them to form a passage from another holy book." Her text drawings give voice to her personal journey...

Neo-Expressionist artist Elizabeth Murray breaks away from the artistic traditions of creating illusionistic three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. Her artistic vocabulary has a "cartoony" flavor. . Resources for this podcast episode include: Wadsworth Atheneum, Art Institute of Chicago, MOMA, Art News, PBS Art 21, and the writings of Robert Storr and Jonathan Fineberg. Image Credit...

Dada artist Hannah Hoch used photographs taken from sources like books and magazines she cut, pasted and assembled into new composition; a journey through a chaos of textures and discerning juxtapositions that challenge us to see modern life and "women" in new ways. . This episode celebrates the exhibition of figural artist Elisa Valenti: "Radical Worthiness" at Established Gallery until September...

Journey with me through the stillness and beauty of still-life paintings that explore the fleeting nature of material things and the transience of life. In this episode we celebrate two female artists: Photorealist Audrey Flack and 17th century Dutch painter Rachel Ruysch. . Resources for this podcast include Audrey Flack (audreyflack.com), Brooklyn Rail Forum (brooklynrail.org), writings of Wendy...

Black, female painter Alma Woodsey Thomas composed brilliantly fractured abstractions of the natural world around her through painted mosaic patches arranged in concentric circles or stripes. Join me as we hover over a sea of red shapes and forms in the painting "Red Azaleas Jubilee." (1976) . . Resources for this episode include Wadsworth Atheneum ( www.thewadsworth.org ), Tate Museum (tate.org.u...

Join me for a conversation with contemporary painter Laurence de Valmy in her exploration of iconic artists, like the pioneer abstract painter Hilma af Klint, appropriated within the template of an Instagram post. . . Resources for this podcast episode include Laurence de Valmy, Create Magazine; ( https://createmagazine.com/) , and the Guggenheim Museum; ( https://www.guggenheim.org ). You can see...

Beyond the Paint with Bernadine is on a short sabbatical...Enjoy one of my favorite episodes, celebrating the modernist painter Paula Modersohn-Becker: Revolutionary Nude. . I will be back in mid-August with new episodes including the work and conversation with contemporary painter Laurence de Valmy. (@laurencedevalmy on Instagram and https://www.singulart.com/laurencedevalmy)

Installation artist and sculptor Tara Donovan transforms everyday objects like foam cups, toothpicks and index cards, transforming the familiar into the unrecognizable through overwhelming accumulation. . . Resources for this podcast episode include: Wadsworth Atheneum (thewadsworth.org), Pace Gallery (pacegallery.com), Smithsonian American Art Museum (americanart.si.edu), Dia Art Foundation (diaa...

Journey with me through the evocative compositions of "lush" female nudes by the contemporary, figurative painter Elisa Valenti. Elisa also joins me for a conversation, a deeper exploration of her work and artistic practice. We talk body image, her personal connections with the prehistoric figure Venus of Willendorf and more! . . Resources for this podcast episode include Elisa Valenti Studio, Saa...