Photography courtesy of the Piero F. Giunti.
Summer Bernal was born and raised in Los Angeles. Growing up in Highland Park, she did not instinctively realize art was vital to who she was and how she showed up in the world. It wasn't until her Mother passed away that she was drawn into an intuitive, reflective, and vulnerable place where she was able to connect and root her present feelings with different mediums of arts as a healthy way to express her feelings in the most honest way in coping with the loss of her mother. She reached a clear point where she knew she needed to create something to fill the void the loss had created in a tangible way. This is what led to Summer’s first art show in memory and in dedication to her mother. The show included an altar as a central focus of the exhibit and included both pieces created by Summer and created by members of her community. The creation and curation of this in exhibition and experience put compassion front and center, and that same compassion still carries through as a central value of the work she does.
It was in producing art, curating, and establishing the altar for the exhibition that she realized that producing art was her craft, vision, and purpose. Since then Summer has continued to move through the art realm of the world, taking on projects of different sizes, scopes, and venues. She focuses on working with people who share her value of compassion and has been able to work with both well-known and established artists as well as emerging artists. Her skills and expertise are broad and deep--- from visual art and mixed media, to graphic design and photography, as well as curation and event production. She takes on each project as an opportunity to gain new knowledge and expertise, work with people she respects, and puts her heart into creating something that drives people to feel something real.
There is so much that goes into building her projects, bringing them to life, and creating those special moments and milestone memories when clients, family, friends, and strangers are able to have a visceral experience and react---to feel happy, enthused, vulnerable---that is the intention behind what she creates. These are moments that she holds deeply and demonstrate clearly that this is her purpose. Still residing in LA while embracing art experiences across the globe, after 15 years in the art industry, Summer continues to focus on her purpose and craft in the light of the memory of her mother every day.
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Jessica Pierce
Piece by Piece Strategies