Legacies 2004, a popular ALVA Gallery exhibition concept in its sixth year, annually showcases a family with multiple generations of artists. This year, the recent work of Patience Brewster and Marlee Brewster Brockmann, sisters, and Marlee’s children – Brewster, Pipo and Tatiana Brockmann will be on view.

Patience Brewster has illustrated more than 25 books for children. She has received state and national awards as well as critical reviews over the course of her 20-year career. Her work appears in many collections such as The New York Times Best Illustrated Books for Children and the Children’s Book Illustration and Design. Her posters, cards and calendars are published widely. Her delicately drawn yet thought-provoking characters have created a large and diverse following of both children and adults. She received her BFA in Printmaking from the Philadelphia College of Art.

Marlee Brewster Brockmann, a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, is known for her luminous landscapes. She spent most of the 1970’s and 1980’s living in Mexico, where her children were born. The artist speaks about her work: “Mexico and New England have shaped me; they have given me my vocabulary for the quiet places where color, light, sky, mist, rain and snow change what never changes. The landscapes from here and from over there call to me; the work is my own voice calling back." The paintings themselves are mood-driven, sensitive explorations of landscape, simultaneously calm and mysterious. Her work is part of many private collections in both the U.S. and Mexico.

Brewster Brockmann received his MFA in ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art and his BS from Bennington College. He currently is the proprietor of the Galeria Olinala in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where he lives and works. Brockmann was a teaching instructor at the El Mono Foundation and the Director of the Huanacaxtle Clay Workshops, both in Nayarit, Mexico. He was an artist in residence at the Kohler Company in Wisconsin. He has shown his work in group and solo exhibitions both in Mexico and the U. S.

Guillermo “Pipo” Brockmann received his MFA in Ceramics from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2002 and his BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in1995. He was the recipient of the Gordon Peers award for excellence in painting. He has had both group and solo exhibits in the U.S. and Mexico.

Tatiana Brockmann received her BFA in Photography from Bard College in 2000. She has shown her work in group exhibitions in Mexico and the U. S. She has published the following works in 2004: Ski Hotels, Bars and Fireplaces.