Perceptions from Pleasant Park – Bernice Gilman Berk – Artist Statement
Bernice Gilman Berk was a WWII service wife who lived all over the United States and abroad,
she raised a family and joined her husband running a business before she was able to focus on
her artwork.
Mainly she worked in watercolor and mixed media. Her individual style was influenced by her
various trips, including visits to countries in the Far East.
Her watercolor Batiks on rice paper were a special technique she developed with a romantic and
restful quality.
A former Winthrop resident, she was a member, past president and board member of the
Winthrop Art Association. Bernice’s artwork was exhibited in shows throughout the Greater
Boston area and in New England and later in Florida, where she was a member of the Broward
County Art Guild and the Tri County Art Guild.
Bernice studied at the Massachusetts College of Art, with Professor Vincent Tringale and with
other artists in New England, and she also attended classes at the Brickbottom Studio in
Somerville, MA. When she moved to Florida, she continued to study art at Broward Community
College, incorporating a new medium of handmade paper into her artwork, to create three-
dimensional work used in conjunction with watercolor, needle and fiber art.
All her subjects recall her love of nature, the sea and flowers.
