Meet Robin Bernat of Poem 88 in Emory and Clifton Corridor

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robin Bernat.

Robin is an artist and writer, as well as the owner and curator of Poem 88 gallery in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work has been exhibited locally, regionally, and nationally and has been collected by many important institutions including The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Kemper Museum of Art, The High Museum of Art, MOCA-GA, and The Weatherspoon Museum. Working primarily in film and video, Robin’s work explores the fleeting and the provisional. She is represented locally by Whitespace gallery.

From 1992-2001, she was the proprietor of Circle B Press, a cooperative printmaking studio, and publisher. From 2000-2005, she was an instructor in the Atlanta Film Festival (formerly IMAGE Film and Video) Media program teaching filmmaking to under-served teens, and facilitating a discussion group on films of the avant-garde. From 2004-2006, she was the Manager of Youth and Family programs at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University creating educational programs, workshops, and publications focused on the museum’s collections of antiquities.

In the Atlanta community, she served for many years on the Board of Directors of Art Papers magazine initiating their public program Art Papers Live. She also served on the advisory board of Nexus Press and was the vice chair of the Twentieth Century Art Society of the High Museum of Art.

She is a graduate of The University of Georgia and The Atlanta College of Art. In 1988-89, she completed coursework toward an MA in Art History at Emory University; in 2001, she was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome. She has twice been an artist-in-residence at the Kemper Museum of Art.

In 2010, under her curatorial direction Robin Bernat, opened {Poem88} represents emerging and mid-career artists, and presents thoughtful and innovative explorations in a new artistic frontier.

Artists work in both traditional and non-traditional formats including painting, drawing, photography, installation, and experimental filmmaking. Poem 88 artists’ work is included in prominent museum and private collections and important publications. Each artist represented at {Poem88} is actively engaged in the larger art communities where they live: as professors, teachers, writers, designers, and lecturers.

They promote and pursue intriguing collaborations in all creative disciplines. Beginning in 2014, Poem 88 EDITIONS affords such collaborations a national and global reach. They present musical performances, literary readings, and film screenings that further investigate thematic concerns; finally, they especially encourage discourse on contemporary art and art-making.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Atlanta’s arts ecosystem is less developed than those of cities the same size. Currently, one of the biggest hurdles is my dual role as a curator and educator about contemporary art. Further, Atlanta also lags behind most major cities in terms of the numbers of collectors of contemporary art. The artists I represent at Poem 88 — as well as many, many artists who work with other contemporary art galleries in the city — are ready for their debut on the national scene. Our artists are making thoughtful, compelling work that deserves a national platform for their continued success.

In the other hand, working with larger institutions like Emory University, and also with several corporate art consultants, has allowed artists to have broader exposure.

Another hurdle that many people outside of the art world frequently do not always grasp is that galleries (in Atlanta) do not function in the same way as other retail operations. Sales can be sporadic. Gallery owners, while simultaneously working to ensure the success of the artists we represent, frequently undertake such a program or project simply because of our love of art and belief that these artists deserve to have great success!!

Please tell us about Poem 88.
Poem 88, unlike most other commercial art galleries or spaces, embraces a multidisciplinary program. Besides exhibitions of paintings and drawings, we frequently program complementary film screenings, poetry and other literary readings and musical performances. We are hoping to create a whole community engaged in arts through the mechanism of Poem 88.

Beginning in 2014, Poem 88 EDITIONS affords such collaborations a national and global reach.

Further, my interest in more thematic exhibitions has allowed for important shows and series like our summer series, “Correspondences.” Correspondences presented a series of short exhibitions, informal talks, and performances that address our desire to restore a natural equilibrium in opposition to the multitude of perils that threaten our environment, the body politic, our spirits, and sense of fairness and justice. Each artist presented works that promote our connection to the natural world, how we react and respond to the material and spiritual worlds in which we live, and our stewardship of the planet.

The title of the series, Correspondences, is inspired in some measure by the Swedish philosopher and mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg (1668-1772). Swedenborg, who influenced such important artists and writers as William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ralph Waldo Emerson and the American Transcendentalists, proposed a binary construction of the universe and human activity — one in which societal ills could be mitigated through acts of goodness. These actions were intended to restore a natural equilibrium between two opposing forces. As a scientist and spiritual thinker, Swedenborg’s novel approach eschewed strict religious dogma and encouraged important social reform including the abolition of slavery.

Likewise, the Correspondences presented this summer at Poem 88 function as interventions, visual prescriptions and invitations to consider our present challenges, personal and global.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Spending holidays with my family: grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Growing up in a small town in Louisiana, there were few Jewish families there. Our community was closely-knit. Holidays at my grandmother’s house were extra-special: festive foods were a curious blend of traditional Jewish recipes with a decidedly Southern and Louisianan inflection.

Besides those experiences, my sisters and I, along with my two cousins, used to attend an arts and crafts class weekly after school and we’d pursue little projects on our own at my grandmother’s house.

The most wonderful memory from my childhood, though, would be attending art exhibits with my dad. He was particularly interested in American art and we’d use our family vacations to visit museums in and around Louisiana, Dallas, TX, Kansas City, MO and New York City. Art was and always has been integral to my life!

Contact Info:

• Address: 1123 Zonolite Road NE Suite 20A
  Floataway Building Atlanta, Georgia 30306
• Website: www.poem88.net
• Phone:4047351000
• Email:info@poem88.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/poem_88/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Poem88/

Image Credit:
Phillip March Jones, Brian Hitselberger, Art Vandenberg, Hormuz Minina, In Kyoung Chun, Cynthia Farnell, Shana Robbins, Julie Travis, Paul Stephen Benjamin, Zuzka Vaclavik, Mike Black, Mike Goodlett

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