Remembering an East Side-Born Eco Star

Jackie (Weinstein) Brookner, who grew up on the East Side in the ‘60s but gained her reputation as one of the country’s most prominent environmental artists, passed away last month at the age of 69. An innovative sculptor and teacher, she was best known for her “biosculptures,” living works of art that bridge the gap between biology, social science, art and urban architecture and have been displayed in major site-specific installations around the world.

In her formative East Side days, she was part of a rather remarkable trio of friends, one who went to Wheeler, one to Moses Brown and one to Classical, but all of who left Providence in search of ways to express their creativity. All three succeeded spectacularly. Joseph Lovett (he was “Joey” back then at what was an all-boys Moses Brown) was into film and was a featured producer at ABC’s 20/20 for over a decade before becoming one of the country’s bestknown documentary filmmakers. Robin Green went to Classical and loved the printed word. After a brief stint at Rolling Stone, she began writing for television, ultimately becoming the lead writer for The Sopranos (where she met her husband by the way). And then there was Jackie (Weinstein) Brookner who after graduating what was then an allgirls Wheeler School, started on a more academic track, first at Wellesley and then Harvard, heading towards a Ph. D in Art History. That is until she decided she would rather make art than just talk about it.

While teaching and writing continued to occupy much of her time, mostly at Parsons and the New School in New York, she was attracted to projects that offered new creative challenges. One of her first successes was Of Earth and Cotton, a series of museum installations that travelled through the South from 1994-1998, evolving as it progressed. The path Brookner chose followed the western migration of the Cotton Belt as she spoke to people who had picked cotton by hand in the Depression era of the 1930s and ‘40s. As local farmers recalled memories of those difficult years, Brookner would crouch on the ground sculpting “portraits” of their feet out of soil gathered from nearby fields. Representing the indigenous colors and textures of the region, the portraits became a metaphor for rural Southern farms and the diversity of the people who worked on them. The installations were accompanied by 40 archived photographs that had been commissioned by the US Government in the 1930s that depicted working conditions during this period.

Back in her SoHo studio, Brookner then found a new creative outlet that would dominate the remainder of her life: a focus on plant-based water mediation. Her first work in this new area was Prima Lingua (First Language/First Tongue), now an iconic touchstone for artists working with environmental issues. It was an enormous tongue of made of resin and concrete that licks the polluted water in which it stands. The mosses, liverworts and other plants that live on the surface create a fascinating microcosm that also helps clean the air as well as filter the water. This new direction took her on artistic journeys around the world as she concentrated on site-specific works that have built her reputation.

Among her projects were ones in the Joan Miro Center in Barcelona, in Grossenheim, Germany and, of particular note, in Salo, Finland. There, she was involved with a team that created three manmade islands that float on waters that are part of the city’s municipal sewage treatment system. Called Veden Taika (The Magic of Water), it provides both a nesting habitat for migrating birds as well as plant-based filtration to improve the appearance and quality of the water itself. The effort proved so successful, Salo has been designated as an EU official conservation site.

Brookner’s latest project was in Fargo, North Dakota to transform a neighborhood drainage basin into a community commons that will reflect the cultural vibrancy of Fargo itself. All the while, the basin will continue to maintain its function as a storm water collection site. Funded by over $500,000 in foundation grants, the project recently had its official groundbreaking ceremony. Just afterwards Brookner wrote a friend: “My own health is quite fragile right now. I am not sure if I will get to see this through, but then again none of us will get to do much more than start the turning of the Great Wheel.”

An example of her earliest work is on permanent display in the lobby of the Miriam Hospital here on the East Side. She is survived by her wife Terry, her brother Philip who lives in Westport and her nephews Noah and Benjamin. As per her request, her last site-specific installation was her own body. Wrapped in a shroud, placed on a simple wooden plank, she was gently lowered into the earth she loved.