About the Artist
Artist and naturalist Sarina Brewer recycles the natural into the unnatural, breathing new life into the animals she resurrects. While earning her BFA in 1992 from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, she worked predominantly with oil paint and found objects, most of which were animal remains. Preparing animal remains for use in her sculpture and abstract paintings slowly evolved into taxidermy over the course of a decade. She volunteers her skills in the biology department of the Science Museum of Minnesota and is also engaged in various natural history related projects for other educational institutions and museums. She is a strong proponent of wildlife conservation who also participates in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation in her spare time.
None of the animals used in Brewer’s work were killed for the purpose of using them in her art. All animal components are recycled. She utilizes salvaged roadkill and discarded livestock, as well as the many animal materials that are donated to her. Donated animals are often casualties of the pet trade, destroyed nuisance animals, or animals that died of natural causes. A very strict "waste not, want not" policy is adhered to in her studio - virtually every part of the animal is recycled in some manner.
This artist has a deep respect and appreciation for animals and the natural world. She is fascinated with the circle of life and intrigued with how different cultures honor their dead and deal with death. Immortalizing loved ones (be they animals or humans) by preserving their remains or creating sentimental remembrances out of their body parts does not sit well with the majority of western society. Yet such practices have been the norm in many cultures throughout history and still are. Undoubtedly the average American thinks such “abhorrent” traditions are only carried out by "savages" in primitive cultures. Yet these practices flourished during the Victorian age in the form of mourning jewelry (accessories incorporating hair and teeth of deceased loved ones) and this type of veneration still exists in contemporary society, a well known example being the preserved remains of saints on display in Catholic Churches around the world. Point being, reverence is relative. Brewer deals with death, in what is considered by most, an unconventional manner. She does not view a dead animal as disgusting or offensive. She feels that all creatures exhibit beauty in death as well as in life, and she pays homage to them by reincarnating them in her works of art.
Brewer is a self-proclaimed science nerd melding her past formal art education with her passion for biology and the bizarre. Her childhood preoccupation with cryptozoology and anomalies of nature manifest themselves in her outlandish reveries of fur and flesh. With these influences, she has carved out an unusual niche for herself in the art world. She now specializes in creating fanciful composite beasts for discerning collectors around the world. We invite you to peruse the culmination of nearly three decades of the study of art and the natural sciences in her eccentric works.
"I call it art, you can call it whatever you want."
