2026 - The title of my current show GONE FISHING refers to a how I find myself and my art recently... Current events, politics, the media, both social and broadcast, have caused a great deal of turmoil and daily questions about what is going on around me and the world at large... This all reflects itself in the questions asked in my work as I try to fish for answers to the many queries I have of late... As an introvert, the noise of events can and has upended my sense of safety and peace, so I take cues to go fish for a sense of direction in painting. I know that all things change, and in that regard I remain vigilant and hopeful for our shared humanity - sometimes it's clear and sometimes not - either way the paintings are my vulnerable offerings... The external and internal also express themselves in the titles of my work...
I relate with the wandering self-reflective figure in the landscape of life, usually in the company of a dog (the love connection) to assist in the journey... I can also relate to the image of a tall woman taking on the task of standing strong and useful and continually curious about fishing for solutions to perplexing issues...
The preferred medium here is oil paint mixed with cold wax for viscosity and interest, often combined with sand for texture, gold metal leaf for light, symbols or words carved-in or collaged-on for insight into my own feelings or thought process,,, A flower has started to show up as a hopeful evolution of growth and beauty... An abstract approach contains the visual story, and can speak in a subtle and quiet way to communicate and connect with others... The work also reflects life on Whidbey Island, where water is my constant companion of meditation and reassurance...
I paint because I have deep feelings for nature, beauty and humanity – but believe there is a deeper mystery leaning into the human condition that opens if we are able to express it…
Thanks for looking - feel free to ask me anything...
Background / History below...
/to sum it up...
Born in Washington D.C., Bergen spent some of her early childhood living on a farm with grandparents in Oklahoma after her mother took ill. Her grandmother, a woman of few words, painted images of their rural surroundings. She put a paintbrush in Bergen’s hand, and Bergen never let go. Bergen eventually moved to Southern California, mainly Santa Monica, where she lived for many years. In the 1970s, she lived in England and Spain, a nearly three-year experience that further fueled her love of art and adventure. She continued her explorations in the 80’s and 90’s by traveling to Nepal many times, hiking, painting and visiting Tibetan monasteries. She also traveled to Africa, hiking and painting Mt. Kilimanjaro, bicycled over New Zealand, and ducking bullets in Sri Lanka, then spent special sojourns in Europe. These adventures expanded her love of landscape as did traveling and painting in France, Switzerland, Germany, Basque country, Portugal, Norway and Japan. She moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1994, where she resides today on Whidbey Island…Bergen studied art in the late 70’s with Martin Facey, an exceptional teacher at Santa Monica College and UCLA. It was through Martin that she met his mentor Richard Diebenkorn at Tortue Gallery. Martin generously encouraged and inspired her to pursue her art, and a brief conversation with Diebenkorn sealed the deal. She also feels fortunate to have studied and exhibited with master Japanese calligrapher Yoshiyasu Fujii in the art of sumi-e (ink painting) and shodo (calligraphy). Bergen has worked in the mediums of acrylic, concrete, encaustic, fiber, cold wax and clay sculpture. By way of her fiber art, she was introduced to a world of international artists pursuing exciting visions in textiles and fiber – where she unexpectedly won the 2011 “Coup de Coeur” (judge’s favorite) award in France. Besides painting, she is currently working in ceramics, creating textured kiln fired clay figures with various clays and glazes. Her influences and inspirations include many artists – her favorite being Nicholas DeStaël, as well as Stephen De Staebler, Turner, Inness, Nathan Oliveira, a handful of other artists, and the poetry of Rilke, Lorca, Rimbaud, Dylan Thomas and Leonard Cohen, to name a few... The inspired visuals that continually hold her interest are within nature itself, the sky and the sea, the innocent world of animals, and an aesthetic to find simplicity with random, irregular and imperfect beauty... She paints because she has deep feelings for nature, for beauty and for humanity, and strives to express and connect those feelings with her art...
Bergen Rose has painted in distant locales from Nepal to Norway, inspired by landscape and culture. She began serious pursuit of her art in 1979 after participating in Judy Chicago’s now historic Dinner Party Project, which opened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and is now a permanent acquisition of the Brooklyn Museum. Bergen has exhibited her work for over 40 years in Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Seattle and Europe. Her work can be seen at Fountainhead Gallery in Seattle and Museo Gallery on Whidbey Island.Considered an emotional and intuitive painter, as well as a landscape and figurative artist, with an appreciation for the surreal and view toward the abstract, Bergen’s work contains quiet narratives within dreamy and often blue views of light, land, water and sky, coupled with geometry within many layers of paint. The titles of her work and the light-infused ethereal views mirror bits of her own interior-scape, and often reflect aspects of humanity. We sometimes see objects – simple images that may express human emotion, but more often we see doorways, portals or some other opening as well as stepping stones or bridges throughout her paintings, expressing a need to move along on our journey. A ladder climbing upward, perhaps indicating a desire for a better place or life, an abstract piece of color to halt us for a moment of reflection, a square or window as an opportunity to continue or as an obstacle to go around. And, of course, the color blue – always the blues to engage us as does the ocean and the sky absorb us. Bergen’s drive to paint is charged by her views of the world, filtered through emotion and spiritual influences…