photo courtesy of Jennifer Kramer
Name des Künstlers/der Künstlerin
Bernice Sokol Kramer
Geburtsdatum
1940
Geburtsort
USA
Arbeitsort
USA, Manhattan, New York City
Ausbildung
Norman Raeben, Carnegie Hall Studios, NYC
Bruce Dorfman, Masters Class, NYC,
NYU, B.A. 1962
Solo-Ausstellungen Auszug
2005 From Ghost to Goddess Pleiades Gallery, NYC
1995 Grandma's Room 14 Sculptors Gallery, NYC
1992 Sculpture and Works on Paper 14 Sculptors Gallery, NYC
1989 From a Childhood: Pallet of Dreams Pleiades Gallery, NYC
Ausstellungen mit Jury
2022 Looking Forward, Carter Burden Gallery, NYC. Juror: Nancy Azara
2022 Putting the Pieces Back Together,Bristol Art Museum, RI. Juror: Bob Dilworth
2019 Recycle 2019 Bklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Bklyn, NY Juror: John Cloud Kaiser, Mary Anne Kinsella, Janice Jacob
2018 Et Tu, Art Brute? Andrew Edlin Gallery, NYC Curator: Jamie Sterns
2016 9th Annual Governors Island Art Fair – 4heads, NYC
2015 8th Annual Governors Island Art Fair – 4heads, NYC
2014 Juried Competition Bowery Gallery, NYC Juror: David Cohen
2014 Small Works Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Juror: Mary Negro
2014 Small Works 440 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Juror: Jessica Porter, Porter Contemporary
2013 Working It Out The Painting Center, NYC Jurors: Mona Brody, Alyce Gottesman, Jo Ann Rothschild (catalog)
2013 Women’s Caucus for Art ‘Bound,’ Catalog, Phoenix Gallery, NY, Juror: Cora Rosevear, MOMA
2013 Small Works Upstream Gallery, Dobbs Ferry NY
2012, 2013 5th & 6th Annual Governors Island Art Fair – 4heads, NYC
2012, 2013 Crest Hardware Art Show Williamsburg, Brooklyn
2011 Curate NYC 2011 Online Exhibition, Juror: Lowery Stokes Sims, Museum of Arts and Design, NYC
2011 Curate NYC 2011 Online Exhibition, Juror: Tabla Rasa Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2011 Curate NYC 2011 Art@Bay Gallery, Staten Island, NY
2011 Governors Island Art Fair, NYC: 14 Sculptors, Head to Toe-Self Portraits Juror: 4Heads
2011 Art From Detritus Williamsburg Art Historical Center, NYC Curator: Vernita Nemec
2010 Curate NYC 2010 Rush Arts, NYC Jurors: Curatorial Committee of 10
2010 Home Is Where the Art Is Pen and Brush, NYC Juror: Stacey C. Hollander, American Folk Art Museum
2009 Fusion: Curator’s Choice Artists Talk on Art, Tenri Cultural Institute of NYC Juror: Thalia Vrachopoulos
2009 27th Annual Juried Exhibition Pleiades Gallery, NYC Juror: Nat Trotman, Guggenheim Museum
2009 63rd Sculpture Exhibition Pen and Brush, NYC Juror: Ellen J. Landis, Grounds for Sculpture, NJ
2009 In Your Dreams Pen and Brush, NYC Juror: Edward J. Sullivan, NYU
2008 Full Circle Pen and Brush, NYC Juror: Deborah Jack, New Jersey City University, NJ
2007 Allied Artists of America 94th Annual Exhibition National Arts Club, NYC
2007 25th Annual Juried Exhibition Pleiades Gallery, NYC Juror: Rebecca Rabinow, Metropolitan Museum of Art
2007 NYU Small Works Exhibition 80 Washington Sq. East Galleries Juror: Jim Kempner
2007 Roles, Rites, and Rituals Pen and Brush, NYC Juror: Diana Kurz
2006 Allied Artists of America 93rd Annual Exhibition National Arts Club, NYC
2006 NYU Small Works Exhibition 80 Washington Sq. East Galleries Juror: Jack Shainman
2006 Cut It Out The Roger Smith Lab Gallery, NYC Curator: Clint Brownfield
2004 22nd Annual Juried Exhibition Pleiades Gallery, NYC Juror: Tracey Bashkoff, Guggenheim Museum
2003 1st Open Juried Show Galleria Galou, Brooklyn, NYC Jurors: Y. Mehri, M. Del Rosario, C. Weiss
2001 19th Annual Juried Exhibition Pleiades Gallery, NYC Juror: Lisa Dennison, Guggenheim Museum
1998 16th Annual Juried Exhibition Pleiades Gallery, NYC Juror: Ivan Karp
1998 173rd Annual Exhibition National Academy Museum, NYC Jurors: C. Romano, G. Leiber, H. Breverman
1997 15th Annual Juried Exhibition Pleiades Gallery, NYC Juror: Donald Kuspit
1997 International Juried Show New Jersey Center of Visual Arts, Summit, NJ Juror: Donald Kuspit
Gruppenausstellungen Auszug
2019 2018 Small Works Carter Burden Gallery, NYC
2019 It’s a Mad Mad Mad World Pleiades Gallery, NYC
2019, 2017, 2016, 2014 Postcards from the Edge Bortolami Gallery, Sikkema Jenkins Gallery, Luhring Augustine Gallery,
Metro Pictures lNYC
2018 Resistance Yiddish NY City Lore Gallery NYC Curators: Tine Kinderman, Deborah Ugoretz
2018 Rise 2018 Noho M55 Gallery, NYC (catalog)
2018 22nd Friends of Pleiades Invitational Pleiades Gallery NYC
2017 Wise Blood Paradice Palase, Bushwick Open Studios, Brooklyn, NY, Curators: Kat Ryals, Lauren Hirschfield
2017 Art from Detritus Viridian Artists NYC, Curator: Vernita Nemec
2017 Holiday Bazaar Carter Burden Gallery NYC
2017 A Political/Apolitical Holiday Show Viridian Artists NYC
2017 Selfies & Self-Portraits:21st C Artists See Themselves Viridian Artists NYC Curator: Vernita Nemec
2017 Small Works Invitational Blue Mountain Gallery, NYC
2017 Alternative Facts Pleiades Gallery, NYC Curator: Denise Adler
2017 Wintertide Pleiades Gallery NYC
2017 Once Upon a Time Viridian Artists NYC Curator: Vernita Nemec
2016 Tree of Life and Evil Eyes Clemente Soto Velez Center, NYC Jurors: Tine Kinderman, Deborah Ugoretz
2016 Unusual Politics: The Madness of Reality Viridian Artists NYC Curator: Vernita Nemec
2016 Cyborgs, Crustaceans and Butterflies: Adornment and Identity in Contemporary Art Pleiades Gallery , NYC
Curator: Denise Adler
2016 Small Works Invitational, Blue Mountain Gallery, NYC
2016 New Awakenings, New Century Artists Central Booking, NYC
2016 Spring Fever Pleiades Gallery
2016 20th Annual Invitational Show Pleiades Gallery, NYC
2015 Boundary-less Pleiades Gallery, NYC, Curator: Reno Oka
2015 Art from Detritus: 20th Anniversary Invitational, Viridian Artists NYC, Curator: Vernita Nemec
2015 Small Works Invitational 2015: Paintings Blue Mountain Gallery, NYC
2015 Small Works Pleiades Gallery, NYC
2015 19th Annual Invitational Show Pleiades Gallery, NYC
2014 “I Found God in Myself “, La Maison d'Art, NYC, Curator, Souleo
2014 18th Annual Invitational Show Pleiades Gallery, NYC
2014 Dumbo Arts Festival Brooklyn, NY
2013 Self & Identity 14 Sculptors, Manhattanville College, Purchase NY
2011 Viridian Artists and Affiliates Viridian Artists, NYC
2009 Fusion: Curator’s Choice Artists Talk on Art, Tenri Cultural Institute of NYC Curator: Thalia Vrachopoulos
2008 Planet in Crisis 14 Sculptors, St. Thomas Aquinas College, NY Curator Siena Porta
2006 Small Works Organization of Independent Artists, NYC
2005, 2006 NewsArt: Art from Another Reality Viridian Artists, NYC
2005, 2006, 2010 Art From Detritus Synagogue for the Arts, NYC Curator: Vernita Nemec
2005 Take It On Faith Atlantic Gallery, NYC
2004 YW Viridian Artists, NYC
2003 Tarts 2/20 Gallery, NYC
2003, 2002 Postcards A.I.R. Gallery, NYC
2003 Curators’ Choice Atlantic Gallery, NYC
2003 Annual Combined Exhibition Salmagundi Club, NYC
2002, 2007, 2013 Generations III A.I.R. Gallery, NYC
2001 Peep Show Get Real Art, NYC
Kunstprojekte
2014-Present Gallery Manager Pleiades Gallery, NYC
2011 Exhibition Coordinator , Governors Island Art Fair, NYC: 14 Sculptors, Head to Toe-Self Portraits
2010 Exhibition Coordinator, Henry Gregg Gallery, Brooklyn, NYC
2009 Fusion: Winners of 2009 Curatorial Contest, School of Visual Arts, NYC
2001, 2002 Juror of Awards Annual Kennedy Plaza Fine Arts Show, Long Beach, NY
2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006,2009,2010 Jury of Awards, Selection, Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit,NYC
1999-2002 Creator and Teacher - Sculpture Program East Side Middle School, NYC, Funded by Project Arts
1999 Art Teacher, After School Program Kids Club, P.S. 116, District 2, Manhattan
1996 "Kinderbox" Developed Construction Project for Children (and Parents) Barnes & Noble, NYC
1987 Mixed Media Specialist Learning to Read Through the Arts, P.S. 29, Bronx, NYC
1987 Workshops: “Wonderful World of Wood” The Children’s Museum of the Arts, Soho, NYC;
Paper Mache Bronx Museum, NYC
1985 - Present Lecturer and Tour Guide 4 Heads Governors Island Art Fair NY, Art Center of Northern NJ, Artists’ studio
visits 41 Union Square, private artists’ studio visits, 92nd Street Y, Brandeis Women
1982 Initiator 41 Union Square Open Studios, NYC
Performance
2001 - Present
• NYU Tisch School of the Arts, NYC
• Music Theatre International, NYC
• Material for the Arts, NYC
• Art from Detritus, NYC
• YW,Viridian Artists, NYC
• The Collage Assemblage Society, NYC
• Salmagundi Club, NYC
Auszeichnungen
2011 George Condo Costume Contest New Museum, NYC
2009 Curator’s Choice Artists Talk on Art Juror: Thalia Vrachopoulos, Tenri Cultural Center, NYC
2006 The Allied Artists of America Award for Graphics 93rd Annual Exhibition, National Arts Club, NYC
2006 Honorable Mention NYU Small Works Exhibition 80 Washington Sq. East Galleries Juror: Jack Shainman
2003 Third Prize-Certificate of Merit “Self-Portrait” Theme Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC
2003 William Alfred White Memorial Award Annual Combined Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC
2001 Honorable Mention (Sculpture) Annual Thumb Box Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC
2001 "Fatto a Mano" Award (Sculpture) 5th Annual Sculpture and Photo Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC
2000 Alphaeus P. Cole Memorial Award (Sculpture) Annual Thumb Box Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC
1999 Oscar L. Olsson Memorial Award (Sculpture) 3rd Annual Sculpture and Photo Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC
1998 President's Award (Sculpture) Annual Thumb Box Exhibition Salmagundi Club, NYC
1998 Prize Beatrice & Sidney Laufman Award (Drawing) National Academy Museum, NYC
1989 First Prize Juried Christmas Show Salmagundi Club, NYC
1982 Juror's Award NYU Small Works Exhibition, NYC Juror: Nancy Hoffman
Presse
2015 Top Five Installations to See at Governors Island, Design and Trend
2015 Governors Island Art Fair, Re:Artiste
2012 The Art Blog: Fifth Annual Governor’s Island Art Fair – A whole lot of innocence and decay, by Elizabeth Johnson
Bernice Sokol Kramer - Zeittafel
1940 born in New York City
1962 College- NYU- BA- biology major
1962 Smithsonian Institution: National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington D.C.
1966 Marriage- move to New York
1967-1974 Studied art with Norman Raeben (painting and drawing -after college)
1974-2012- worked in art studio at 41 Union Square West, NYC
1974-1982 destroyed work done during this period
1982- went to masters class - began making constructions- sculpture
1982- began showing art work in juried shows (sculpture)
1986- became a member of Pleiades Gallery, NYC, artist run gallery
1989- 2021- began large black sculptures (Ember, Reember)
1990- became a member of 14 Sculptors Gallery, an artist run gallery devoted to sculpture- as of 2022 still exhibiting with them
1995- Grandma's Room, 14 Sculptors Gallery, NYC (solo exhibition)
2000- began making a suspended dress sculpture. Destroyed this sculpture after 9/11- felt that would remind viewers of people falling from buildings
2005- From Ghost to Goddess, Pleiades Gallery, NYC, solo exhibition, (suspended dress sculptures)
2006- 2022 started collage/reliefs - offered a rest from making laborious sculptures
2012- moved studio to home
2012- continued large suspended, small and large wall sculptures and installations
2016- began 2 dimensional collages
2020- with coronavirus isolation at home produced approximately 650 collages
Employment: (1962- 2021)
Smithsonian, Washington, DC, Museum Technician
Interior Dept., Washington, DC
Internal Revenue, NY, NY, Human Resources
Art Tours- led tours In NYC galleries and artist studios
Gallery Manager- Pleiades Gallery, NYC
Teaching:
Developed art programs/Art Teacher: Public Schools, NYC, Museum Workshops, Teacher, private pre- school
Website
http://www.bernicesokolkramer.com/
Bernice Sokol Kramer - artist statements
From the beginning of my art-making life I can observe that my work either focuses
on my early childhood or celebrates the lives of the deceased; all made with a touch of whimsy alternately with serious intent.
From my first solo show at Pleiades Gallery, 1989, From a Childhood: Pallet of Dreams, a parade of small, wee sculptures recreates the circle of my childhood friends. (Firebrand, Small One).
A series of monolithic black sculptures, (1990- present) Ember and its successors
Reember no.3 (2022) are monuments or reminders of our mortality.
Aprons worn by me, made by my Grandmother, were the catalysts for Grandmas Room.
(14 Sculptors Gallery, NYC, 1995). Replicating the aprons with canvas with an upside down orientation, they have the appearance of the well-worn, hard working women of my young years. I achieved a theatrical feeling by accompanying the wall pieces with actual furniture of both my grandmothers placed in the center of the room.
Upside-downness continued but was halted by 9/11 and its connection to falling bodies. From Ghost to Goddess, a solo show at Pleiades Gallery, NYC, 2005, contained suspended sculptures, mostly upside down. (Kapellmeister no.1, Trunkenbold, Clownburst, 2004)
The armatures for these sculptures are discarded clothing, not wire as is customary. I stuff the clothing like a taxidermist until the desired pose or posture is achieved. To alter the expected human form, I perform artistic surgery--cutting and sewing limbs, reattaching/relocating them. The marriage of human and animal traits, my “genetic mischief,” guides the process. My background as a biology major comes into play. Primary concerns are shape, silhouette, texture, and color (in that order). Papier-mâché method, collaging newspapers onto the surface, creates a firm, durable skin. In his essay, What’s the Matter With Sculpture? Isamu Noguchi states, “ The cheap and quick method will rescue sculpture…Why not paper…?” I liked his suggestion.
A childhood fascination with marionettes inspires my work.
I have continued using clothing in recent wall sculptures,
Passage (2015).
Gold in the Morning Sun (2019).
Kapellmeister no. 3 (2016).
To counteract the long labor of building sculptures, I began (2005-present) making collage reliefs. Inspired by an exhibition of Fra Angelico, I decided to tell my story in a small format.
My work begins on a flat surface that I collage with papers from magazines and photographs I have taken. At some point, I introduce a sculptural element, a head, made of clay, projecting from the surface, reaching out to the audience.
I place ordinary people in commonplace settings. I follow the traditions of portraiture--the standing figure, the seated figure, odalisques, interior vs. exterior, and figure vs. landscape.
An odalisque in the dentist´s office- Office Visit (2013).
A female carrying a weapon- Guns and Purses (2014).
An elder destiny portrait- La Boheme (2014).
Thrift shops supply me with discarded figurines after exhausting my parents’ favorites. I reconstruct them by adding collaged papers and ink and they assume a new identity.
(Mabel, 2022).
The Ghostlore series contains casts of still life objects used in early art studies brought up to date with collage elements.
For the Birds, 2019
Young Girl, 2019
Benjamin Moore brochures provided a readily available surface for drawing. (2011-2015)
The old Village Voice personal ads picturing women in a state of undress serve as a substitute for sessions with a live model. With ink, I draw over the ads to create my own version of the nude.
Old Friends, (2009)
Steinway Suite, no.1, (2018).
Steinway Suite, no. 2, (2019) and
Steinway Suite, no. 3 ( 2020) (also known as- In the Middle of the Night).
The 3 Steinway Suite pieces listed above are black and white installations placed on the floor; a literal playground for sculpture. Inspired by my time spent in imaginative play under my father's 8 ft. ebony Steinway grand piano, the coloration mimics the piano keys. And, of course, a sculpture needs a pair of shoes.
Making a studio at home in 2012, I continued making sculpture in addition to 2 dimensional collages. During the isolation of the virus, I have been able to complete over 600 collages. I am still recreating a circle of friends.
Über die Arbeit des Künstlers/der Künstlerin
photo courtesy of D. James Dee
photo courtesy of D. James Dee
photo courtesy of D. James Dee