Elaine "Kiki" BRODKIN

BRODKINElaine, known as Kiki Brodkin to the world - and professionally as an artist - died April 1, 2010. Death was due to massive Traumatic Brain Injuries, resulting from a January 2008 automobile accident and ensuing complications. Kiki was born in 1926 and grew up in Passaic, N.J. A highly talented artist, she began her college level art studies at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1944. In her sophomore year class, she met Ed Brodkin, a Purple Heart Combat Infantry veteran just returned from WWII. The couple married in 1947 and raised three sons. Kiki went on to further studies in Art at William Paterson University earning a Bachelors Degree and then a Masters Degree in Education and the Visual Arts. As an Adjunct Professor of Art, she taught for many years at Bergen Community College in Paramus, N.J. while simultaneously advancing her career as a professional fine artist. Kiki showed marble and wood sculptures, paintings, monoprints and most recently encaustic works in many solo shows in Soho, Chelsea and New Jersey as well as group shows in Philadelphia, Washington DC, and abroad in Germany and a Biennial in South Korea. Her work brought many sales and fine reviews and included sculpture commissions from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Kiki and Ed also travelled to many art and archaological sites in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, across Europe, in Asia and Australia and New Zealand.Survivors include sons Peter and his wife Louise, Steven and his wife Janice, Daniel and his wife Eva, and grandchildren Andrew and Emily. A Memorial and Art Exhibition in Kiki's Memory will be held later this year. In lieu of flowers, donations are requested "In Memory of Kiki Brodkin, A'48," to the Cooper Union, Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003-7183.