Meet the Artist Behind the Flame
Artist Statement
Ariana Berman is an artist based in Lexington, Kentucky. Her work centers on the body as a site of personal history and shifting identity. She explores how material, as a record of presence and absence, shape an evolving sense of self. Her practice is grounded in the physical act of making, where material becomes a voice, a reflection of presence, and a record of change.
Primarily working in metal and ink dyes, Berman engages materials that embody tension, vulnerability, and physical response. Texture and mark-making becomes a register of time, shaped by repeated contact and the weight of process. What remains are subtle impressions—traces of the body held within the surface, suggesting movement suspended by constant transition. These gestures reflect the body's ongoing negotiation with change, marking the impermanence of form and the enduring imprint of presence.
Her forms are biomorphic, rooted in distortion of the figure. They reflect shifting identity, the tension between control and release, and the body’s continuous cycle of change. Surfaces are built through accumulated gestures, becoming tactile records of time, labor, and care. These marks suggest not only the body’s endurance but also its vulnerability.
Creating an environment that confronts physicality—to witness the effects of time, to feel the vulnerability of touch, and to consider the ways the internal self is constantly shaped by the world around it.
Biography
Ariana Berman grew-up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, she attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where she studied a BFA in Sculpture with a minor in Film. Her artistic practice is grounded in material exploration and bodily presence, with a focus on cast metal processes.
Berman has served as an Artist-in-Residence at Sculpture Trails Outdoor Museum in Indiana and has participated in cast iron conferences across the country as a studio assistant, instructor, and exhibiting artist. She finds deep creative and personal fulfillment in the cast iron community and the collaborative spirit that surrounds it.
In 2022, after being diagnosed with a life-threatening heart and lung condition, Berman turned to her art as a way to process and navigate the emotional complexities of healing. Her work has since evolved into a means of confronting vulnerability, resilience, and transformation—reflecting both personal experience and a broader exploration of the body as a site of change.
Resume/CV
