Katherine Bernhardt’s works, made with spray paint and washes of acrylic, vibrate with formal juxtapositions and varied content. Her work has been the subject of exhibitions at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum among others.

Piñones by Katherine Bernhardt depicts two coconut waters on the sand of Piñones next to the Mangrove Forest, an amazing natural environment outside San Juan. Since Bernhardt had her first solo show on Borikén fifteen years ago, she has traveled frequently to Puerto Rico to paint, show her work, and learn from the island’s murals, architecture, painted towns, natural wonders, markets, and most especially through relationships she has built with the artists she meets there. She considers the island a second home, and enjoys all that San Juan has to offer her as an active artist at work in the midst of its stimulating history, culture, color, music, architecture, art, markets, philosophy, aesthetics, and more.

“I created a colourful print for the non-profit COPI (Corporación Piñones se Integra) featuring two coconut waters on the sand of Piñones next to the Mangrove Forest, an amazing natural environment outside San Juan. The image in the print depicts coco frio, a coconut water you can enjoy while at Piñones and based on the amazing hand-painted signage for this beverage that is advertised around the area. I have been traveling to Puerto Rico for many years and have gotten to know the island as an artist by showing my work there and by making work there. I also learned a lot from Puerto Rico’s murals, architecture, painted towns, natural wonders, markets and most especially through relationships I have been building with the artists I met there. While making the print I visited COPI, a team working to develop Piñones as its residents aspire to ‘transform the community into a space of greater cooperation, justice and solidarity.’ Like COPI, I wish that Piñones retains its natural beauty and biodiversity while also developing to serve its citizens.” — Katherine Bernhardt