About

Berta Andrade Malhinha was born in 1970 in Bermuda to Azorean immigrants from Lagoa, Sao Miguel and has resided in the United States since 1974. She began studying art while at New Bedford High School under the direction of Mr. William Bettencourt, and has also studied Graphic Design at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

She is self-taught in her current media of watercolor. Her work often represents her memories and has been described as “dream-like”, invoking imagery with a hint of Surrealism while maintaining a naturalistic dimension. She has exhibited at Gallery X (New Bedford), The Dartmouth Gallery (Dartmouth) & The Gallery Upstairs (New Bedford).

Berta currently resides in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

"Art is how I explore who I am. As a young child my family immigrated to the United States from Bermuda. I was young enough to not realize the full implications of moving to a foreign land permanently. Growing up I had memories of colours, images, smells and sounds that were very different from my existing environment. Art was how I explored those distant memories. My recollections of foreign places, things and people were more like fragments of dreams. Through art I am able to relive those fragments by painting my dreams.

I choose watercolour as my media. The fluidity of the media allows the images to take on a more organic, free form life of their own. I like the translucent and opaque qualities that watercolours can have simultaneously, just as dreams can at times feel very real and if we are fortunate enough, reality can sometimes feel like a dream." - Berta A. Malhinha, March 2005