About the Artist
Beverly Berwick has won numerous awards in juried art shows throughout San Diego County. She has displayed her work in Las Vegas at the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies annual exhibit and at the San Diego Watercolor Society International Show. Currently, she is the president of the San Diego Watercolor Society, a thriving organization of almost 700 members who share her love of watercolor. She is also a member of the Allied Artists Association of San Diego and the Spanish Village Art Center. Her involvement in the fine arts community and her support of other artists through these organizations help fuel her own artistic expression.
Ms. Berwick brings an international touch to her art. After growing up in the Pacific Northwest and earning a degree in English Literature from the University of Washington, she studied oil painting in Bogota, Colombia. High in the Andes, she was inspired by an artist there to take up oil painting. She enjoyed depicting coffee plantations, peasants in their vivid wool ruanas (ponchos), lush canyons, and hot springs. From her mentor, she learned to focus on a center of interest and simplify her use of color for dramatic effect. Ms. Berwick expanded her repertoire of oil painting techniques during her years in the Dominican Republic, portraying its tropical beauty and vibrant mix of cultures. She later studied sumi-e (traditional painting with ink) under a master artist in Japan. Her art was inspired and influenced by the local scenery, such as cherry blossom festivals and Shinto shrines, and by Japan's rich artistic traditions, such as ceramics, ikebana (flower-arranging), and chigiri-e (torn paper collage). In 2006, Ms. Berwick traveled on a Fulbright scholarship to study visual and performing arts throughout Mexico. During her travels, she concentrated on Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. Their depiction of indigenous figures and dynamic symbols has informed her own approach to art since then.
In recent years, Ms. Berwick has focused on themes closer to home in her watercolor and mixed media painting. Her work ranges from plein air landscapes to portraits, wildlife, and all things organic. She uses the interplay of color and light to suggest subtleties of mood and expression, and she incorporates diverse media to achieve rich textures in many of her works.
