BIOGRAPHY
In 2007 Reina Mia Brill was awarded a $2,500 BRIO Award from the Bronx Council on the Arts for career advancement. She debuted her two figure installation entitled "Surprise", the largest of her career, at the 12 th International Triennial of Tapestry in Lodz, Poland. Out of 150 International artists, only six Americans were selected to participate. Brill was the representative emerging artist of the group made up of mid and late career artists. And in Pittsburgh, PA., Brill's sculpture "Divalia" was shown at the prestigious Fiberart International. This exhibition, accompanied by a catalog, will travel through 2009.
Born in New York City, Brill studied Accessory Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She relocated to the West Coast to study Art at San Diego State University where she received her MFA in 1997. During Brill's three-year MFA program, she spent six months in Dundee, Scotland where she first started knitting with wire three-dimensionally.
Brill's work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. In 2006 her work was exhibited in two major exhibitions with catalogs. "Needle Culture" in Flagstaff, AZ as well "Twist & Shout: The New Needle Arts," which opened at Florida Craftsmen and will continue to travel to museums across the country through 2008. In 2005, Brill's "Two-Faced Queen" toured in "Chess," an international exhibition of contemporary chess pieces. In 2004 her sculptures were in two fiber exhibitions: "Digital Origins" at Eyedrum Gallery in Atlanta, GA and "Stranded" a four person show in Highland, NY. Brill's work has also been exhibited at Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, MA; OXOXO Gallery in Baltimore, MD; Facere Art in Seattle, WA; Sienna Gallery in Lenox, MA and Sculpture to Wear in Santa Monica, CA. Brill's work continues to be shown at the prestigious SOFA Expo in both New York and Chicago.
In 2003, she was a guest lecturer at SOFA Chicago for the "Fanfare for Fiber Series," sponsored by Friends of Fiber Art International. This was the first showing of her anthropomorphic figurative sculpture by the Snyderman/Works Galleries from Philadelphia.
In 2001, Brill was awarded a $7,000 fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Later that year, she was bestowed with the title "Concordia Foundation Fellow" given to only 20 out of the 158 fellows that year.
Brill's work continues to be published. In 2006, she received a feature spread in the Sept/ Oct issue of FIBERARTS magazine entitled " Art of the Doll, Figurative Sculpture" and was also included in the 1 st Gallery Issue of SURFACE DESIGN JOURNAL, entitled "Breaking New Ground". In 2005, her work appeared in: Lark Book's 500 Brooches , 500 Bracelets , Teapots: Makers & Collectors by Dona Meilach, and Artwear: Fashion and Anti-fashion by Melissa Leventon. Other publications include: SURFACE DESIGN JOURNAL summer issue 2005, Catskill Mountain Region GUIDE'S Artist Feature Section 2004, ORNAMENT and IN STYLE magazines. Other books include: Fiberarts Design Book 7, 1000 Rings, Art Jewelry Today , Textile Techniques in Metal , and Color on Metal.
Reina Mia Brill currently lives in this remote section of the Bronx called City Island where the nature-filled surroundings are inspiring a new generation of creatures.