EXHIBIT INSPIRED BY BELOVED TEACHER
Students present their paintings as a special tribute
Her students do not lift a paintbrush without thinking of Myrna Brooks Bercovitch (1943-2017) and all that she taught them — from how she guided and challenged them to be their best and most creative selves to the way she seemed to understand, intuitively, exactly what each wanted on the canvas.
They miss her terribly. They miss her generous spirit and the way she made each artist feel that they were her favourite; they miss the table she would set so graciously for their coffee breaks and they also miss her haystack cookies.
Sixteen of them decided to honour her memory with an exhibition of art she inspired them to create. The show, on through June in the community art space of the Eleanor London Côte-St-Luc Public Library at 5851 Cavendish Blvd., is a tribute to Bercovitch — an expression of her students’ gratitude for all that she shared of her talent as an artist and a teacher, and of herself.
As longtime student Stuart Glaser observed in the exhibition booklet he prepared: “Our association with Myrna has transformed us all: in our skills as artists, in appreciation of life, and in the inner peace that we experienced when we created art in her studio.”
Bercovitch died in January 2017. She is survived by her husband of 53 years, and their children and grandchildren.
“Even now, it is a year and a half since her death and we are still in mourning. Some of us still can’t believe it,” said Carol Rabinovitch, the student who co-ordinated the show.
“Myrna had individual relationships with each of us. I always thought I was her favourite. I think each of us thought that. That’s how she was. She was so generous, and she gave everybody confidence.”
“She gave with her full heart,” said longtime friend Trita Cohen, one of five students who gathered at the library this week to describe Bercovitch’s influence on them. “Myrna had a smile that would light up a room and a quiet confidence that made one feel at ease and taken care of.”
An accomplished artist who exhibited in galleries in North America and abroad and won international prizes for her drawing and printmaking, Bercovitch studied at the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts in the 1970s, later earned a fine arts degree in art education and special education from Concordia University, and taught widely for more than three decades.
Suzanne Elbaz has had several art teachers “and Myrna was the best. She had that gift. I can’t tell you the fun we had in those classrooms. I just waited to go there and everything left me — except for my inspiration for art.
“Her eyes were wide open to her surroundings. And she had this sensitivity to everybody and everyone’s needs. When she saw I was a little timid at the beginning, she said, ‘You can always redo your canvas.’ The words penetrated — and I was off,” Elbaz recalled.
“She made me be free. She was my kaleidoscope of colour and she immersed me in this magical world of hers.”
Said Deena Smith: “She guided us and encouraged us. She called us all artists. She made us feel every work was a masterpiece. And she taught me there are no mistakes in art.”
Carole Rubenstein Klein said: “Myrna made us feel she was truly interested in everybody. When we would walk into her studio, she always had ideas for us, or there was a little note on a painting you were working on; she did that with everyone.
“It’s so important to paint in a warm and supportive environment. It allows you to explore, and that is what Myrna gave to each one of us — that support.”
Bercovitch, a surgical nurse in her first career, “was so giving of herself and her time — so patient,” Smith said.
The support sometimes went beyond art. When Smith was caring for her sick husband, for instance, Bercovitch went to her house to give her classes.
When Rubenstein Klein broke her ankle and couldn’t go to class for two months, Bercovitch emailed her daily.
Most of her students did not know one another before starting to study with her, but have continued to take classes as a group. “Myrna’s influence is very strong with us still,” said Rubenstein Klein. “Just being together makes us feel good.”