After serving New York for twenty-five years as one of the city’s first female firefighters, Brenda Berkman turned her attention to art during retirement. Despite her initial unfamiliarity with drawing or printmaking, she began taking courses at the Art Students League of New York. She began with block prints and then focused on stone lithography and etching. Her practice served, in part, as a form of therapy, having spent two months aiding in the Ground Zero recovery operations and losing many friends and colleagues in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Source: 9/11 memorial and Museum
