Husband and Wife Exhibit Opens in White Plains
Berenice and Bob Pliskin were busy last week hanging a joint show that will open at the White Plains Library Museum Gallery on October 1.
The husband and wife team have lived in White Plains for about 31 years pursuing their individual careers as teachers and now, retired, work in their respective artistic media. Berenice paints on silk and Bob is a photographer. They have side by side, yet separate, studios in Peekskill where they do much of their work.
Berenice explained that she was always interested in art. As a child she would draw, encouraged by her parents. “I was surrounded by classical music and renaissance influences as a child,” she said.
Berenice pursued water colors and would gather together elements from images she saw in her dreams or a landscape in real life, put them together as a still life in her studio and then paint. She was introduced to silk painting through a class she took several years back. “I was fascinated by how the dye would work its way into the silk,” Berenice explained. “Unlike water colors that sit on top, the dye bonds with the silk.”
Berenice has also done a series of paintings with spiders and as her subjects. “There is a gooey substance you use to draw on the silk and the dye sticks to that. It reminds me of a spider web,” she says.
Both Bob and Berenice are heavily influenced by nature. As teachers they had two months off each summer when they would travel to different parts of Europe. “We did not have much money,” explained Bob, “and we would often camp out.”
The experience of camping out gave the couple many wonderful views of landscapes in the early morning and evening hours when the sunlight created nuances that Bob was happy to capture on film.
Bob says he discovered Photoshop about 20 years ago and spends much of his time in the studio editing. “I like to play on the computer,” Bob says, adding that “the process is not as important as the product.” Many of Bob’s photographs have the look of illustrations because of the editing he has done. He also prints many of his works on canvas, which gives the photographs a three-dimensional appearance.
At the White Plains Museum Gallery Berenice will present several pieces from what she calls the Green Earth. These paintings capture the life of Hispanic men and women who have come to America seeking to make a living.
“I became fascinated with these people when I would see them gathered in the mornings waiting to be picked up for work each day. The way they congregated, everything about it intrigued me. I wanted to capture it.” Berenice remembers. “I went back home one morning, picked up my camera and began shooting,” she says. “Then I started painting.”
The husband and wife art exhibit will be on display from October 1 through November 16. On October 14, from 2 to 4 p.m. there will be an opening reception. Berenice will give a silk painting demo and a walk and talk of her part of the exhibit on October 24 at 7 p.m.
The White Plains Public Library is located at 100 Martine Avenue, White Plains. For information visit whiteplainslibrary.org or call 914-422-1400.
