Sarina Brewer

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]

Sarina Brewer
Born
Minneapolis, Minnesota
NationalityAmerican
EducationMinneapolis College of Art and Design
Known forTaxidermy Sculpture
MovementTaxidermy Art, Pop Surrealism
WebsiteTaxidermy Art of Sarina Brewer

Early life

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.[6] She studied at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1993.[7] 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,[8] a technique still utilized in her current body of work.[2] Her work with the remains of animals evolved into taxidermy over the years[9] and she is self-taught in this realm.[6] 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.[10][11][12] She describes the art she has created throughout her career as an hommage to the animals she uses.[8] Brewer is a conservationist and former wildlife rehabilitator[8] 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.[13] In 2004, Brewer and two fellow Minneapolis artists established The Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists (MART),[14][15] 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.[16] The work of Brewer and the other founders of MART dramatically changed the way taxidermy materials are used.[1] The pioneering[17] work of Brewer and her fellow co-founders gained worldwide attention[17][10] in 2005 after they appeared on the front page of the New York Times art section[18] following their inaugural gallery exhibition. The article featured Brewer's taxidermy sculpture titled Goth Griffin.[16] Positive response from other artists following the exhibition led to the formation of the collective.[19] Public interest in the genre gave rise to an art movement.[1][10][19] Taxidermy art (a term used interchangeably with Rogue Taxidermy)[10] is a trend that started in Minnesota with the work of Brewer and fellow MART co-founders[1][10] and now has an international following.[2][10] An influx of people working within the genre has led to a taxidermy revival in recent years.[20]

Brewer maintains an ethical stance against traditional taxidermy culture.[13] She does not kill animals for the purpose of creating art[21][11] and she is noted as a trendsetter in this arena.[22][23] Her work is made from recycled animal components[24] salvaged from ethical sources such as natural deaths and road kill.[11][25][26] 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[27][28] and the use of ethically sourced materials has since become a tenet associated with the art movement[27] and broadened the art form to appeal to people who previously opposed taxidermy for moral reasons.[27]

Brewer is regarded as an influential figure within the genre[23][22] which has been noted for being largely female-driven,[29][3] and she is acknowledged for playing a role in the shaping of it aesthetically as well as ethically.[23][22] She has exhibited across the United States and has received international recognition.[23][21] Her work has been included in Midwestern, West Coast, East Coast, and European venues.[11] Among notable venues are the Los Angeles Art Show[30] and The Natural History Museum of Geneva.[8]

Selected exhibitions

Unabridged exhibition list available on artist website

Notable collections
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See also

References
  1. Evans, Hayley (22 February 2016). "Rogue Taxidermy Artists Who Create Imaginative Sculptures". www.illusion.scene360.com. Scene 360 LLC. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  2. 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. 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. Lundy, Patricia (16 February 2016). "The Renaissance of Handcrafts and Fine Arts Celebrates Dark Culture". Dirge magazine. Dirge Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  5. Hilary Simmons (2008). Metamorphosis II: Fifty Contemporary Surreal, Fantastic and Visionary Artists. beinArt Publishing. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-9803231-1-5.
  6. DeSmith, Christy (Feb–Mar 2009). "Body of Work". BUST. p. 53: Debbie Stoller and Laurie Henzel. Retrieved 7 March 2017.CS1 maint: location (link)
  7. "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.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  8. Butzler, Jeanie (12 September 2013), Animal Skins; Visual Surfaces, exhibition catalog: University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, p. 29
  9. Jan Harold Brunvand, PhD (2015). Hearsay; Artists Reveal Urban Legends. p.51: Grand Central Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0935314939.CS1 maint: location (link)
  10. Ode, Kim (15 October 2014). "Rogue taxidermy, at the crossroads of art and wildlife". Variety section. Star Tribune. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  11. 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.
  12. "Sarina Brewer biogrpahy". www.lovettsgallery.com. Lovetts Fine Art. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  13. 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.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  14. Voon, Claire (14 October 2014). "Women Are Dominating the Rogue Taxidermy Scene". Vice. Retrieved 25 October 2016 – via vice.com.
  15. Chin, Richard (16 October 2014). "Caution: Rogue taxidermy is in season". TwinCities.com (St. Paul Pioneer Press). Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  16. Karsyn, Ally (25 June 2015). "The right stuff: Spirit Lake taxidermist pins down beauty". Life. Sioux City Journal. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  17. "Animal Dreams at ArtStart". starjournalnow.com (Star Journal). Multi Media Channels. 6 June 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  18. 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.
  19. Robert Marbury (23 September 2014). Taxidermy Art. Artisan. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-57965-640-9.
  20. 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.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  21. McDonald, Kate (22 April 2016). "Rogue Taxidermy Sculptor Sarina Brewer". Minnesota Original. PBS via Twin Cities Public Television. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  22. Robert Marbury (23 September 2014). Taxidermy Art. Artisan. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-57965-640-9.
  23. Grey, Jones (30 April 2015). "Artist Interview: Sarina Brewer". Sinical Magazine. Sinical Magazine LLC. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  24. David Carrier; Joachim Pissarro (14 October 2013). Wild Art. Phaidon Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-7148-6567-6. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  25. 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.
  26. 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.
  27. Langston, Erica (30 March 2016). "When Taxidermy Goes Rogue". Audubon. National Audubon Society. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  28. 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.
  29. Alexis Turner (2013). Taxidermy. Thames & Hudson. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-500-51670-6.
  30. "The LA Art Show". Gregorio Escalante Fine Arts. Gregorio Escalante Gallery. 27 January 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
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