York Public Library to host Berri Kramer art exhibit
YORK — The York Public Library is hosting an exhibit featuring work by artist Berri Kramer entitled “The Remains of the Day: A Layering of Life’s Remnants.”
The collection of work, which includes collage, mixed media and encaustic, will be on display until Oct. 28 in the library’s upper level.
An opening reception with the artist will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 5 p.m.
Berri Kramer grew up in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and spent as many hours as she could in the studios at DeCordova Museum. She earned a BFA in design and crafts from Kent State University and a master’s in fiber from Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a textile artist, she explored color, pattern, rhythm and construction. She worked for 25 years designing for Better Homes and Gardens. Bringing that background with her to paint, collage, cold wax and encaustic she utilizes her experience to voice a new layer of thought. Kramer was the founder and president of Heartwood College of Art where she has taught color and design and explorations of crafts. She is currently a full-time artist in her studio in Kennebunkport, Maine.
“My work reflects the blocks of color and patterns that surround all of us every day,” said Kramer.
“I am fascinated by the tools and tracks that are unintentionally left behind: a fiber remnant, a letter, or a feather. The exercise in choosing from endless imagery and palettes, and editing it to distill the message, has become my practice in every medium. Often the scale of these snippets is exaggerated or reduced to take the viewer away from the ‘assumed.’ The simplest forms can often tell the greatest story.”
Of the exhibit, Kramer commented, “Collage is a curious method, constructed in layers, base to surface, top to bottom, left to right, all at the same time. Life is a juggle, requiring balance and motion concurrently. One can always do more OR leave well enough alone. The more risks there are, the more options appear. These thoughts surface constantly in my work. Events, places, people, and ideas assume different characteristics in life depending on ‘who’ they are ‘standing or sitting’ next to. Patterned hues with torn edges adopt a particular point of view.
“My background as a quilter was the foundation for the piecing in my work. I focus on similar narratives, resolved through different mediums. The individual elements are collected and married into a format that will not only tell a story, but hopefully conjure up emotions and memories that were once hidden away. It is an honoring of precious remnants of the past that I hold dear.”
The library is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, call 207-363-2818 or visit yorkpubliclibrary.org.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York Public Library to host Berri Kramer art exhibit
