Erongaricuaro, Mexico by Beryl Bernay
- Title: Erongaricuaro, Mexico
- Artist: Beryl Bernay
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Size: 60h" x 48w"
- Creation date: 1986
- Added to collection: 2026
- Donor: Carol Gonzalez
- Campus: Rock Creek
- Location: B7 corridor outside room 118
The artist Beryl Bernay was born in 1926 in Brooklyn, New York to Russian immigrant parents. She studied painting at Cooper Union on a full scholarship and later attended the Art Students League. While she continued to paint throughout her life, she pursued many paths, including being an actress, fashion designer, photographer, and international journalist. Described as an ardent civil rights activist, she also held several jobs at the United Nations that allowed her to advocate on behalf of others both at home and abroad. Another notable achievement was her creation, production, and hosting of All Join Hands, the nation's first multicultural children's show, which aired on TV in the early 1960s. Bernay's lifelong interest in other cultures showed up in her travels, which included multiple trips to Mexico, where she used puppetry to teach villagers about public health, and visited the town of Erongaricuaro, where she made watercolor studies leading to this painting. The artist's connection to Oregon began in the 1990s when Bernay started visiting her niece and nephew, who had recently moved to the state.