Brenda Berkman

In 1982, Brenda Berkman won her landmark sex discrimination case against the New York City Fire Department and became one of the FDNY’s first women firefighters.  For 25 years, she served the City as a firefighter and fire officer, rising to the rank of Captain.  Berkman was a first responder at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  A PBS documentary about her career Taking the Heat can be found on YouTube.  She continues to mentor girls and young women both in firefighting and other non-traditional work and is also a volunteer tour guide on the 9-11 Memorial.  Her fire service career is the subject of the 2021 children’s book Send a Girl! authored by Jess Rinker and illustrated by Meg Hunt.

On retiring from the FDNY in 2006, knowing nothing about drawing or printmaking, Brenda decided to study printmaking at the Art Students League, where she quickly fell in love with stone lithography.  Berkman has always been eager to collaborate with other artists.   She created a collaborative art project commemorating the tenth anniversary of 9/11 involving 12 other artists.  In 2013, she began the series of stone lithographic prints Thirty-six Views of One World Trade Center to commemorate the 15th anniversary of 9/11 and document the rebuilding of lower Manhattan.  Drawing and printing hundreds of stone lithograph prints of 36 iconic views of the new One World Trade Center over the course of three years (averaging a print per month!), Berkman’s series has been collected by the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, St. Olaf College (her alma mater) and a private collector.  A short video about the 36 Views project can also be viewed on YouTube. 

Continuing to put her training in history (B.A. St. Olaf College; M.A. Indiana University) and law (J.D. NYU) to use, Berkman also serves on the Board of Directors of Monumental Women (MW), dedicated to honoring women and people of color in public spaces. On the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment on August 26, 2020, she coordinated the unveiling of MW’s Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument in the midst of the pandemic, the first statue of real women in the 167-year history of Central Park.  The website https://monumentalwomen.org/ offers a record of the opening ceremony.

To see more of Brenda Berkman’s artwork, visit www.brendaberkmanartworks.com