Sarina Brewer
Born1970 (age 53–54)
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
EducationMinneapolis College of Art and Design
Known forTaxidermy sculpture
MovementRogue taxidermy
Websitesarina-brewer.com

Sarina Brewer is a Minneapolis-based American artist known for her avant-garde taxidermy sculpture and her role in the popularization of taxidermy-related contemporary art.[1] Brewer is one of the individuals responsible for the formation of the genre of Rogue Taxidermy,[2][3] a variety of mixed media art.[3][4] A primary directive throughout her career has been the use of ethically procured animal materials.[5]

Early life

Brewer was born in 1970.[6] Brewer's parents, also artists, raised her in an environment centered around wildlife and family pets. Her art arose from an interest in biology and nature.[7] She studied at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1993.[8] During her formative years at MCAD she worked primarily with found objects, most of which were mummified animal remains.[2] Her early works were shrines to the animals they incorporated[5] and often involved the gold leafing of animal mummies,[9] a technique still utilized in her current body of work.[2] Her work with the remains of animals evolved into taxidermy over the years[10] and she is self-taught in this realm.[7] She states her work is an extension of her childhood belief in reincarnation and that her taxidermy sculptures serve as symbolic bodies for transmigrating animal spirits.[11][12][13] She describes the art she has created throughout her career as an hommage to the animals she uses.[9] Brewer is a conservationist and former wildlife rehabilitator[9] who volunteered in the biology department at the Science Museum of Minnesota for over a decade.[2]

Career

To form her own movement and break off from conventional taxidermy and its traditions, Brewer and two colleagues coined the term Rogue Taxidermy.[14] In 2004, Brewer and two fellow Minneapolis artists established The Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists (MART),[15][16] an international collective of artists who use taxidermy-related materials (both organic and synthetic)[4] as the common thread to unite their respective styles of mixed-media sculpture.[17] The work of Brewer and the other founders of MART dramatically changed the way taxidermy materials are used.[1] The pioneering[18] work of Brewer and her fellow co-founders gained worldwide attention[18][11] in 2005 after they appeared on the front page of the New York Times art section[19] following their inaugural gallery exhibition. The article featured Brewer's taxidermy sculpture titled Goth Griffin.[17] Positive response from other artists following the exhibition led to the formation of the collective.[20] Public interest in the genre gave rise to an art movement.[1][11][20] Taxidermy art (a term used interchangeably with Rogue Taxidermy)[11] is a trend that started in Minnesota with the work of Brewer and fellow MART co-founders[1][11] and now has an international following.[2][11] An influx of people working within the genre has led to a taxidermy revival in recent years.[21]

Brewer maintains an ethical stance against traditional taxidermy culture.[14] She does not kill animals for the purpose of creating art[22][12] and she is noted as a trendsetter in this arena.[23][24] Her work is made from recycled animal components[25] salvaged from ethical sources such as natural deaths and road kill.[12][26][27] She brought this policy with her when she helped construct MART. Brewer and her fellow co-founders incorporated this precept into the group's ethics charter, to which members of the collective were required to adhere. MART's "no-harm-no-waste" approach was one of the genre's founding elements[28][29] and the use of ethically sourced materials has since become a tenet associated with the art movement[28] and broadened the art form to appeal to people who previously opposed taxidermy for moral reasons.[28]

Brewer is regarded as an influential figure within the genre[24][23] which has been noted for being largely female-driven,[30][3] and she is acknowledged for playing a role in the shaping of it aesthetically as well as ethically.[24][23] She has exhibited across the United States and has received international recognition.[24][22] Her work has been included in Midwestern, West Coast, East Coast, and European venues.[12] Among notable venues are the Los Angeles Art Show[31] and The Natural History Museum of Geneva.[9]

Selected exhibitions

Unabridged exhibition list available on artist website

Notable collections

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Evans, Hayley (22 February 2016). "Rogue Taxidermy Artists Who Create Imaginative Sculptures". www.illusion.scene360.com. Scene 360 LLC. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rivera, Erica (8 April 2016). "Crave Profile: Sarina Brewer and Rogue Taxidermy". CraveOnline. CraveOnlineLLC. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Niittynen, Miranda (2015). "Animal Magic; Sculpting Queer Encounters through Rogue Taxidermy Art" (PDF). Gender Forum: Internet Journal for Gender Studies. 55: pp.14-34. ISSN 1613-1878. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Lundy, Patricia (16 February 2016). "The Renaissance of Handcrafts and Fine Arts Celebrates Dark Culture". Dirge magazine. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  5. 1 2 Hilary Simmons (2008). Metamorphosis II: Fifty Contemporary Surreal, Fantastic and Visionary Artists. beinArt Publishing. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-9803231-1-5.
  6. ↑ "Sarina Brewer - Biography". AskArt. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  7. 1 2 DeSmith, Christy (Feb–Mar 2009). "Body of Work". BUST. p. 53: Debbie Stoller and Laurie Henzel. Retrieved 7 March 2017.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  8. ↑ "Brewer Defines the Art of Rogue Taxidermy MCAD". www.MCAD.edu. Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Archived from the original on 30 November 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Butzler, Jeanie (12 September 2013), Animal Skins; Visual Surfaces, exhibition catalog: University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, p. 29
  10. ↑ Jan Harold Brunvand, PhD (2015). Hearsay; Artists Reveal Urban Legends. p.51: Grand Central Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0935314939.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ode, Kim (15 October 2014). "Rogue taxidermy, at the crossroads of art and wildlife". Variety section. Star Tribune. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Skinner, Quinton (15 October 2014). "Artist Sarina Brewer Expresses Herself Through Taxidermy". Lifestyle: People & Profiles. Minnesota Monthly Magazine. Retrieved 2 November 2016 – via MinnesotaMonthly.com.
  13. ↑ "Sarina Brewer biography". www.lovettsgallery.com. Lovetts Fine Art. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  14. 1 2 Gyldenstrom, Freja (17 June 2017). "Morality and Taxidermy in Art". www.culturised.co.uk. Culturized Co. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  15. ↑ Voon, Claire (14 October 2014). "Women Are Dominating the Rogue Taxidermy Scene". Vice. Retrieved 25 October 2016 – via vice.com.
  16. ↑ Chin, Richard (16 October 2014). "Caution: Rogue taxidermy is in season". TwinCities.com (St. Paul Pioneer Press). Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  17. 1 2 Karsyn, Ally (25 June 2015). "The right stuff: Spirit Lake taxidermist pins down beauty". Life. Sioux City Journal. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  18. 1 2 "Animal Dreams at ArtStart". starjournalnow.com (Star Journal). Multi Media Channels. 6 June 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  19. ↑ Topcik, Joel (3 January 2005). "Head of Goat, Tail of Fish, More Than a Touch of Weirdness". Art & Design. The New York Times. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  20. 1 2 Robert Marbury (23 September 2014). Taxidermy Art. Artisan. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-57965-640-9.
  21. ↑ Tremonti, Anna Maria (25 October 2017). "Dead Animals into Art". www.cbc.ca. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  22. 1 2 McDonald, Kate (22 April 2016). "Rogue Taxidermy Sculptor Sarina Brewer". Minnesota Original. PBS via Twin Cities Public Television. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  23. 1 2 3 Robert Marbury (23 September 2014). Taxidermy Art. Artisan. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-57965-640-9.
  24. 1 2 3 4 Grey, Jones (30 April 2015). "Artist Interview: Sarina Brewer". Sinical Magazine. Sinical Magazine LLC. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  25. ↑ David Carrier; Joachim Pissarro (14 October 2013). Wild Art. Phaidon Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-7148-6567-6. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  26. ↑ Binnie, Ronald (2015). "Vile Bodies". Plastik Art & Science Journal (4). ISSN 2101-0323. Archived from the original on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  27. ↑ Topcik, Joel (14 January 2005). "Still Life With Road Kill". St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Florida: The Times Publishing Company. p. E1, E3 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. 1 2 3 Langston, Erica (30 March 2016). "When Taxidermy Goes Rogue". Audubon. National Audubon Society. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  29. ↑ Purdy, Anthony; Helen, Gregory (2015). "Present Signs, Dead Things: Indexical Authenticity and Taxidermy's Nonabsent Animal". Configurations. 23 (1): 75. ISSN 1063-1801. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  30. ↑ Alexis Turner (2013). Taxidermy. Thames & Hudson. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-500-51670-6.
  31. ↑ "The LA Art Show". Gregorio Escalante Fine Arts. Gregorio Escalante Gallery. 27 January 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
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