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. Early works were shrines to the animals they incorporated, creating final resting places for them. Preparing animal remains for use in her sculpture and abstract paintings slowly evolved into taxidermy over the course of a decade. Sarina is now a licensed taxidermist as well as a prolific artist. 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.

None of the animals used in Sarina’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 animals that are donated to her. Donated animals are often casualties of the pet trade, destroyed nuisance animals and pests, 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 and is unfathomable to the average thinker. Yet such practices have been the norm in many cultures throughout history and still are. Undoubtedly the average American thinks such abhorrent practices are only carried out by "savages" in primitive cultures, yet they even exist in this day and age in the "civilized" world, a well known example being the preserved remains of saints on display in Catholic Churches around the world. Point being, reverence is relative. This artist 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 pays homage to them by reincarnating them in her works of art.

Sarina is a self-proclaimed science nerd who incorporates 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 and every peculiar artifact she creates. These influences, combined with a slightly dark sense of humor, have carved out an unusual niche for Sarina in the art world. She specializes in creating fictional composite animals and sideshow gaffs for discerning collectors and the many connoisseurs of the curious around the world. We now 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."
www.MySpace.com/Sarina_Brewer

THE FORMATIVE YEARS: 1987-1997

Ideals	Life	Property
Untitled Wing	A Farewell	Ascension
Homage to Boo-Boo	House Mouse Dreams	Gilded Squirrel
Sleeping Squirrel	Ruddy Roadkill	Corroded Kitten

PRESS

NATIONAL:
The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Press, The Sun, The Weekly World News, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Minneapolis City Pages, Fortune Small Business magazine, Maxim magazine, Juxtapoz magazine, BUST magazine, Garage magazine, and Mpls/St.Paul magazine.

INTERNATIONAL:
The Dutch Telegraaf,(Netherlands), El Correo Espanol (Spain), Bizarre magazine (England), Front magazine (England), Last magazine (Australia),Choc magazine (France),P-Magazine (Belgium),FHM magazine (Lithuania), ZONE 5300 (Netherlands)

Interviewed for Minnesota Public Radio "State of the Arts"

EXHIBITIONS

Rogue Taxidermy Inaugural
Creative Electric Gallery, Minneapolis MN
October 2004

Wunderkabinet of Ichthyological Curiosities
Geneva Museum of Natural History, Switzerland
November 2004

Man and Beast; Part II of Regional Collections
Emily Davis Gallery, Akron OH
April 2005

Art-a-Whirl
California Arts Building, Minneapolis MN
May 2005

Alive on the Inside; The Lure and Lore
of the Sideshow
Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston SC
May 2005

The Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists;
The Iowa Invitational
Mills Gallery, Pella IA
November 2005

The Artists of Juxtapoz
Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis MN
March 2006

Fabulous Sea Monsters
Oceanopolis Cultural Sea Centre, France
April 2006

Cryptozoology: Out of Time Out of Place
Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston ME
June 2006 Alive on the Inside;
Encore of the Lure and Lore of the Sideshow
Purdue University Galleries, West Lafayette IN
August 2006