Rosalind Brenner

Artist Statement

My art moves between abstraction and the figure, between what is immediately visible and what gradually reveals itself.

It is shaped by the influences of painters whose work I have studied and admired: Joan Mitchell’s energetic use of color and gestural forms, Willem de Kooning’s shifting figures, Cy Twombley’s mark-making, Vasily Kandinsky’s line and shape-shifting music, emotionally provocative color and semi- recognizable shapes.

I begin with color, gesture, words, line, forms, the physical act of painting itself. Except for commissions, I rarely plan exactly where a work is going when I start. As the surface develops, uplifting color, figures, birds, faces, fragments of landscape, and other imagined shapes often begin to emerge. I follow them, sometimes strengthening what I see and sometimes allowing them to remain partly hidden. My imagination pairs me with my muse. I love birds and my environment on the east end. I want to bring that appreciation of natural beauty into my work.

I love commissioned glass and paintings. These paintings and stained glass commissions are very much planned to meet my clients’ needs.

Light has become increasingly important in my work—not simply as illumination, but as energy, movement, and a way of transforming color.

I am interested in the moment when something recognizable appears within abstraction and then seems to dissolve again. I like to say my viewer completes the process, either seeing what I see or bringing their own emotional reactions and experiences to their observation.

My years working in stained glass continue to influence the paintings. Glass taught me to think about light passing through color, about the power of line and strong or blended divisions of shape, and about the beauty of luminous color.

Whether I am working in paint, glass, or words, I am drawn to discovery. I want the work to retain some mystery—to offer an initial experience and then provide the reward in another look.

I want to express the joy of making art for the viewer who, by looking with the viewpoint of her own experience, completes the process.

Biography

Rosalind Brenner, raised in Queens NY, graduate of Queens College and recipient of an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, is a painter, glass artist, and poet based in East Hampton, New York. Her work moves fluidly between abstraction and the figure, reflecting artists she fell in love with while visiting museums and galleries in her formative years in NYC. Her long practice in architectural stained glass has deeply influenced her approach to painting, particularly her fascination with luminous color, space, and the transforming qualities of light.

She is a Master Craftswoman and expert restorer of stained glass as well as creator of multiple original commissions in homes, churches, synagogues and offices throughout the city and the country.

Rosalind spent years teaching stained glass in the NYC adult education program in Queens and Great Neck, and at The D’Amico Art Barge in Napeague, NY. She runs a thriving and busy studio in her East Hampton home and, with her husband, takes care of guests in her luxury inn. Rosalind is the mother of two sons and grandmother to three young men. She has traveled extensively, absorbing the art of Asian countries, Europe, as well as the galleries, museums and collections of privately owned art in Florida, California, and multiple exhibits throughout the USA.

Ms. Brenner has exhibited her work on Long Island, NYC and New Jersey, including frequent participation in the Springs Invitational and many other community shows, as well as one woman shows in the Geri Bauer Gallery in Bridgehampton, NY, in Quogue Library Gallery and at Sarah Lawrence College, as well as many current and recent group art shows.

Rosalind's glass and paintings are widely collected throughout the United States.

Alongside her visual art, she is a published poet whose interest in women’s lives, memory, observation, and the unexpected connections between images and experience informs her poetry, as it does all her creative work.