If I Ruled the World!

What is good art, good urban design and good architecture? I am not using the word great because that would be too much to strive for. Houses and buildings are being build to minimum standard of good taste. We have a new Art Gallery which is dedicated more to a social space for weddings than for showing of art. And can you believe the "gobbledegook" of the exterior. Who honestly thinks this even good architecture? We are city that has allowed the mayor to come in with the desire for better urban design, saying no more crap. Right?
First I would look at the fabric of this city divided by a beautiful river. Urban design starts with how we use this city. Traffic is obviously how most of us travel about, so my wish is to get rid of the traffic department and put in place a urban design department. Educated planners who are there to make the population of the city happy and not just the cars. We would not have the renewed 99th street, with no attention paid to the communities.
There are style-less condos being build in this area around Whyte Avenue where no educated person would say this is great design. When talking to the design review members the answer is " You should have seen it before." My wish is that the Design Committee have a lot more power in the design of our buildings otherwise what good does it do.
They say that there are architects involved in the building of the apartments along Whyte Avenue by Bonnie Doon Shopping Center. If that is true it doesn't show. Buy into it because it is cheap and you do not understand the quality of the design. In Edmonton we honestly do not expect better, I wish it would change. If I ruled the world.
Education is where I would start. Educate the mayor and the citizens about good architecture so he and they recognize it. When we had the competition for the art gallery the talks of the contenders was very well attended. Our excitement was it would be great. The worlds best architects vied for an opportunity to design the new building. The jury of experts was deadlocked and in the end two non architects decided what was best for this city. This building will never win any architectural awards. It is in fact falling apart with damage ongoing to be repaired. Inside this gallery the art hangs in boxes with barely adequate lighting. Edmonton deserves better.

Five year and Ten!

The Red Gallery has been open for ten years. I have since that time build the Bergstrom Block, where we have lived for five years. Currently David and I are building a second home on our property at the Pembina
River. This building will be off the grid using solar panels. During the winter we will test if our electric oil heaters can function to warm the space. If this is successful we will instal plumbing. The process is slow but very exciting. The reason I bring this up on an art web site is to speak about the landscape. The natural landscape, of the river, the trees or the sky does not interest me as an artist. I am draws to the human interaction in the landscape. We have build a road and this I can paint. There was a small shack eight feet by twelve, this I can paint. The house with it's metal siding doesn't interest me yet I see it as a monolith in the landscape, so we will see.
This winter I am finishing some older paintings, a few erotic work and starting a new series Whyte avenue on July 1st.
There is a fun film about art in the 60's called "Who Gets To Call It Art?" Available at your local library. It is a question I always ask myself when I see some of the work at the AGA. I love mark making so watching installations is so trying. That is so old, but then again so is painting.
So if you get a chance, watch the movie and see some strange films and installations.

April in Edmonton

It is the middle of April in a city that seems to be stuck in winter. There is still snow on the ground. As an artist I appreciate the free time from other jobs to just paint. But I am looking at spring cleaning, not only in my house but all the projects that I started. One of my favourite efforts is to use my video camera to make a DVD of the photo albums. I can watch my childhood float by on the 52" High Definition T.V. My memories of my childhood are also enhanced by small drawings that I still have. These drawings were of wash hug on the washline, mermaids in the sea, donald duck and farmyards. My parents would take walks to the Castle Twickle in Delden, where we saw deer and swans. Holland is probably in full bloom today. Well, that was a lifetime ago. I started these nostalgia videos to entertain my mother who is in a care facility.

What is next?

July 13, 2010
My Old Age Pension has been approved. Lucky me. I have been in the studio doing tasks other than painting. These are rebuilding windows for the "shack" in the country. I've also started to sort through my paintings to judge what I'll do in the future. What is the purpose of art or of life for that matter? I love doing portraits but will not do commissioned work. Most of my paintings I create for my own pleasure, so what to do next? Currently I am working on some "erotic" works, but to me these are tame. Still the studio door stays closed. What to paint next? This blog has changed location and I don't think anyone really reads it so I am talking to myself. Next? I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Spring is here! There is a prediction of snow. This is after all Edmonton, Alberta. The Red Gallery is changing. My work as an artist will continue but much much slower. The "40 Years" show is closing as well as the need to visually express my culture. I don't think I have much more to say about living in Edmonton, after the show "Car Culture" and "Portrait of Edmonton". I want to change my world, but the Bergstrom Block has done that beautifully. This representation of my desire to improve my world has accomplished that. As an artist I can only do so much. As a developer my desire is to continue to create the sort of environment that I want to live in. The current project is a house on the Pembina property. I have started to do paintings of this land. Nature, only as it represents the human condition. A road, or some sunflowers planted by my granddaughter, a small cabin such are my subject matters.

In the mean time, I am writing the "View to Understanding" my journal notes and letters from early years to the current. This is a reflection of my life. No great trauma or mystery, just a life well lived and few regrets.

This month David and I are celebrating our 40th anniversary. It is also my 65th year. Dates are so very important when they mark milestones in a life, a wonderful life. So it sometimes baffles me when art repeats itself in a unconscious or conscious way. My own art is of a European culture which was my childhood. Also I am aware of the trends of the art in our city, Edmonton. The Greenberg connection to the styles of art produced in this city should have become a stale memory, but it seems to raise its head every now and then. So it was with glee that I found an old publication of the Alberta Society of Artists ,Winter 1963. Margaret Chappelle, artist and activist (1915-1992) wrote this article titled, Clement Greenberg.
"The most prevalent reaction upon meeting a "name" of Greenberg"s magnitude is one of passive resistance -- a determination to remain unawed by the reputation. By the end of the first day of exposure to this man his forthright sincerity had pried a few chinks in my armour. He made it clear from the first that he was a critic not a teacher... a new experience for Emma Lake!
" I don't care what type of painting you produce," he told the group - " as long as it's good."
His attitude to work was a bit unusual. Fishing, exploring, the cocktail hour had no place in his schedule and he kept himself constantly available to the assembled painters. Several full days of "talk sessions" conditioned us to the business of painting, with discussion thenceforth limited to before and after the day's work.
Many big names have emerged under the impetus of his artistic approval- names like Pollock, Noland, Lewis. One day I rashly questioned the validity and lasting quality of Noland's circles. His reaction told me that this was heresy! Yet again he would enthuse over a realistic landscape or a still life with flowers. "A gem!" He'd intone with the same admiration bestowed upon his favourite modernist. "Go further into realism" he urged the semi realist. He deplored the over abundance of single-track New York abstract expressionists who had nothing to say. "Stay away from New York," he warned, "if you're a serious painter who wants to go places!"
Though sometimes paradoxical, his thinking seemed uncluttered; his language free of "beat" jargon and double talk. His revealing anecdotes about "big name" painters brought them all into sharper focus. "Action painting" he disclosed (like impression-ism, cubism and so many others) was invented by a newspaper critic, and De Kooning and his cohorts were a bit nonplussed when the label stuck.
On the last day he told us how surprised he'd been discover so much sophistication and unpretentious professionalism "up here in the sticks" ( and the way he said it... took the sting out of that last phrase!)

I like this slice of another artist's life. Margaret Chappelle is now the name on a humane society building in Edmonton. When she died it was discovered in a hand written will that her art should be sold 10 years after her death. November 2003 her work sold for twice the amount than was expected. Her estate,estimated over a couple of million dollars, was given to the humane society.
Occasionally one can see one of her drawings and painting come up for auction. There is little about her work on the net.
About Clement Greenberg there is still a great deal to be said, my favourite comment was in John Perreault's art diary,"Artopia" (The Greenbergian Stake..).I hope if you are interested this article is still on the net.
Now time to paint. Thanks for reading this, Christl Bergstrom

We have sold our home and are moving into the second floor of the Bergstrom Block ar 9618-82 Avenue. David's office will be on the main floor. This is both exciting and tumultuous. The renovations are still going on. I have not been in the Red Gallery for the last few months. I miss it. Except for some trips to Toronto and Europe my scedule will return to normal. On October 21st, the Lando Gallery will show and sell my art.
Christl Bergstrom, Edmonton