JB Berkow Designs New Award for the Executive Women of the Palm Beaches

Designed by JB Berkow

“Free to Be” The New Women In Leadership Award

I have been a long time member of the Executive Women of the Palm Beaches.  It is an incredible organization of vibrant, inspirational, career-minded women who believe strongly in giving back to the community.  Each year they give out three ‘Women In Leadership Awards’ to exemplary women who have demonstrated extraordinary achievements and leadership in the private, public and volunteer sectors.  There are other such organizations but we were the first; we initiated the paradigm.  Some of these other groups have grown in size.  Our membership, in contrast, is capped at 200 for regular membership, which we believe is an attribute to the selective process involved in becoming a member of EWPB.

Oil, Pastel and Acrylic on Paper

However, these other organizations had something we did not.  They had a physical look to their awards that has actually helped to brand them.  This year’s leadership felt the need to correct that.  When they asked me to design a new award I was greatly honored and enthusiastic.  I knew immediately, that I already had the perfect sculpture to fulfill their needs.

“Free to Be” was a sculpture that I created in the same year that I became a member of Executive Women of the Palm Beaches.  Who could have imagined that eight years later it would become the basis of our new award!  But the history of “Free to Be” spans an even longer period of time.  It goes back to the beginning of my career when the main focus of my paintings centered around the female figure (example to the right).  Most of them pictured women surrounded flowers.  Eventually I fell in love with landscapes of Europe and I abandoned the female figure.

Many years later, however, I returned to the female figure, but this time in the form of sculpture.  Again I combined her with flowers, specifically the rose and created a series called the “Gilded Rose Collection.”  The series explores women in the process of self-discovery.  It also depicts women who have found their voice and inner strength.  The top-selling sculpture in this series falls in this latter category and was done in reaction to 9-11.  “Freedom Rose” (image bottom center and right) shows a strong women determined to make a difference in the lives of not only Afghan women but those all over the Middle East.

"Discover" Cast Bronze

Cast Bronze Back

Cast Bronze Front

While researching books specifically made for sculptors, I fell in love with a particular pose.  It portrayed a woman standing on tiptoes, leaning forward, head held high, and arms flung out to her side.  It inspired three sculptures.  The first two were meant to be a pair.  “Budding Beauty” depicts a demure young girl standing atop a rose bud while “Fully Bloomed” shows the confidently posed woman described above on a fully bloomed rose.  The figure turned out so well that I felt it deserved a platform of its own and hence “Free to Be” was born.  It is the only sculpture that is not part of the Gilded Rose Collection.

Cast Bronze

I believe that personal experiences subliminally drew me to that particular pose and the ultimate creation of  “Fully Bloomed” (pictured left) in order to portray qualities I wanted to see more of in myself as well as in other women.  These qualities are determination, fearlessness, the ability to ignore stereotypical limitations, and the confidence to be all you can be.  When asked by the Executive Women of the Palm Beaches to create an award for its W.I.L.A. recipients I knew “Free to Be” (pictured at top of article) had found its perfect purpose.