Rena Bass Forman's process was inspired by both 19th century landscape photographers and explorers, as well as the painters of the Hudson River School. Her Arctic and Antarctic photography took her to the polar regions of Patagonia, Chile, Iceland, Greenland, and the Canadian Arctic. Her work was featured in Photographs from the Ends of the Earth at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Curator Lisa Hostetler states that "Rena Bass Forman is an heir to the grand tradition of 19th century polar photography practiced by Dunmore and Critcherson, Wilczek, and Hurley." Her polar photographs are deeply infused with the unique quality of light found in these regions. The large-scale, sepia toned prints emanate a mystical calm that is in harmony with the spectacular nature of her subject matter.
Rena Bass Forman earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History in 1975 from Hofstra University, Long Island, New York and studied Arts Administration at Rutgers University, New Jersey (1979). She had numerous solo exhibitions including shows at Winston Wächter Fine Art, New York and Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York. She participated in many group exhibitions, and her work is in several collections including those of Citicorp and Goldman Sachs, New York City, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio and the Henry Museum, Seattle, Washington. In 2008 Look North Gallery's exhibition, Polar Light:Greenland, showcased the Greenland photography of Rena alongside the Greenland drawings of her daughter Zaria Forman. The show was held in conjunction with Al Gore's Climate project as a climate change awareness exhibition.