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Sunday, July 06, 2008

The Christl Corporation, established in 1994, invests in projects that enhance the awareness of art, architecture and urban design. The Bergstrom Block at 9616 82 Avenue in Edmonton, designed by my husband David Murray Architect and built by the Christl Corporation, won a 2007 Award of Excellence in the City of Edmonton Urban Design Awards Program. The feedback from the community has been wonderful. People seem to enjoy the simplicity of the contemporary design and the way the building fits into and completes the streetscape. This project was a long time coming. I bought the property in 1993 but the economic recession meant that I couldn't build right away. By 2004 it was possible and David's design was exactly what I was looking for. We moved into the second floor in 2006 and now have a great urban apartment with a large open roof garden. This is significant because of the precedent it sets for sustainable urban development. We are committed to city-building, living close to work, supporting high quality architectural and urban design that celebrates urban life and minimizing our impact on the environment.      

posted by Christl Bergstrom's Art Matters at 12:48 PM

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

October 17, 2006
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

posted by Christl at 12:34 PM

Monday, August 28, 2006

Hello to art lovers,
It has been a few months. I am back in my studio painting the series which I call "Car Culture". These are scenes of driving about my city, Edmonton. It is fine for many artists to take easel and paint and go sit in nature and paint. Those who see my paintings know this is not my way. Instead I see images everywhere and have a desire to emphasize my love of an ordinary life. The second series is the continuing children images. My mothering days are long past but that experience is in my nature so I will continue to express it in my art. I intend to use images and "abstract" the details. Finally our home of 30 years in strathcona is up for sale and this subject in coming to close, not the idea of home and family but rather that specific house. How does one portray "home" in a loft? This computor is at work so I hope to communicate more frequently.

Christl Bergstrom

posted by Christl at 9:48 AM

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Simple postcards from Holland, saying “greetings” or “love”, signed by Oma en Opa. Some cards were from aunts and uncles or friends of my parents. These cards were usually in black and white. The image was a main street, a farm, a church or some other landmark. I have found these cards glued in a cheap newspaper type album. The back was glued down, which didn’t matter because other then the address, there were very few words. The idea of sending the cards was an old tradition in Holland. My grandmother would send a card to say she was coming for a visit. The person would send a card back to say the time and date was fine.
When we came to Canada, my mother exchanged letters with our relatives. I can recall having to add a little to the end of each letter. Slowly through time I could not write in Dutch and my mother would translate what I said. Then I lost interest, as the teenage years came upon me. I forgot about the postcards. When I saw them again I remembered. I remembered with nostalgia all the people left behind in Europe, when we immigrated to Canada.
The original concepts for the Portrait of Edmonton and Alberta Landscape were the cheap postcards available in the convenience stores. None suited me. And I started to think in terms of postcards for my paintings. I found that the images that appeal to me are not just Edmonton or Alberta but universal. Flying into the mouth of a bridge, shopping at a chain store, or garbage on the ground, are typical of any place. The latest painting of the Pembina River could be any river, and the road paintings could be placed in most of Canada. So my paintings cannot be considered postcards.
This series is symbolic by what is not in it. No pretty sunsets or lovely views over our river valley. There are no experiences of being in this place, not yet. I hope to start work on these themes in the end of next year.
My next project is to paint 1978, my children at the age of three. These two girls were my inspiration and allowed me to photograph them again and again to get the image that I wanted. At the time, I was a full time mother and had no time to do art. But I thought art. By 1980, I was in a small studio space, which I called “Christl’s Art and Other Things”.
Winter is a good time to be in the studio and to paint. I am continuing the Christmas paintings, as well as Flesh, the skin of canvas, the erotic works.


The Bergstrom Block is almost finished! It has been an exciting year and if you were to ask me would I do it again, the answer is a resounding YES. I loved seeing David’s design slowly growing out of the ground. At the same time my sympathy was with Ernie Keller when the summer of 2004 turned so very wet and then it hailed. When we had the trades at the site, they often left not to be seen for two months. The Bergstrom Block was for some a very small project and it was low on the totem pole. I continued my painting and watched from my Gallery window.
Similar to finishing a painting there is a small moment of exhaustion and a depression that can catch me unaware. The ‘high’ of watching the building going up is now the ‘low’ of the completion. The Bergstrom Block is also looking for a main floor tenant. There are 1300 sq. ft. at $20.00 sq. ft. plus the usual disbursements, taxes insurance etc. I do not have any clear idea who would like the space. Gelato and espresso, anyone??????
Thank you for reading this’
Christl Bergstrom

posted by Christl at 5:07 PM

Saturday, February 14, 2004

Christl Bergstrom Writing for Art Matters

I am an artist swimming upstream, like a salmon, going to her studio to spawn. Every weekday morning after a quick glance in the Edmonton Journal (What? no art news in the world?), I walk to my studio, four blocks from home. The studio was a store, on Whyte Avenue close to Old Strathcona, with it’s restaurants and bars. I am not close enough to have the active street traffic of my favourite neighbourhood. In its last life my store was a pawnshop. Sometimes when I sit all day painting without any visitors I think I should return the small space to a store. But then the public comes in to look at my latest art and I have a dialogue about life and my work. My favourite guests are of course my friends. Then there are other artists who want to find a space to exhibit their art. In Edmonton there are not very many places to do that. My Red Gallery is currently suitable to show only my own art.

I would like to find other ways to show my art and have produced a catalogue of the recent show, “On Being Didactic”. There is also a Catalogue of the two shows just completed, “View to Understanding” and” Dead Dog Dogma Series”. The other small commercial projects are greeting cards with my art images. Small steps that I hope will bring my art to the attention of more people.

With the dénouement of the last two shows I start a new series. PORTRAIT OF EDMONTON. This is our city’s 100th birthday. These landscapes are a series that include my walk to work. Every day there is a new piece of garbage thrown down with no care of who will pick this stuff up. I of course see it as a contemporary image of our time. The garbage seems invariably to be from fast food outlets. There is graffiti, embarrassingly bad, on most of the buildings. So I will try to create something from these contemporary, cultural images. There will be landscapes seen only when walking along a trail or a bridge. There will be images of the city as seen through the windshield of my car. I also like to imagine what the pioneers where seeing when Edmonton was declared a city in 1904.

I was born in Holland, where I walked on cobbled roads leading into the small farms that were thousand of years old. Village life did not change quickly, and the installation of the first telephone in my grandparents home was major event. The first automobile was impressionable, because my first ride was to the train to take the trip that would lead me to Canada. New beginnings are also the moments of our city. What we make of those moments is to be celebrated.

I remember the Secord House, which housed the previous Edmonton Art Gallery. In the 1970’s and 1980’s I remember the excitement of the New York Artists who did not hesitate to show their art in the New Edmonton Art Gallery. I remember a wonderful show of David Smith’s sculptures. The same year there was a 75th anniversary photo show, Alberta Communities. Another show was of “The Big Picture, Prairie Landscapes”. The abstract art of Hans Hoffman was shown at the Edmonton Art Gallery in 1981. His great influence was teaching and thus influencing artists everywhere. Other artists who had exhibitions in the EAG in 1981 were Giacomo Manzu, A.C.Leighton, David Milne, Robert Sinclair, J.W.G.MacDonald, Fred Varley and Daryl Hughto.
The new director of the EAG has his hands full in re-establishing our gallery’s place in my community. It is not a hopeless cause. The first step when looking for improvement is to look at one’s assets. I would like to see a website which shows all of the Edmonton Art Gallery’s collection. Then I would love to see that the EAG supports our local artists scene by putting together retrospective shows to travel to other galleries. The staff or curators should write about the goals of the EAG and pursue other curators to aid in promoting the importance of the collection and Edmonton artists. If the collection is not significant, cull it and rebuild the collection.

I just was introduced to the artist David Bierk, and know that the EAG has one of his works. When he died, homage by putting his work on display and telling the Edmonton public about this artist would have been interesting. Like any artist who looks at life and realizes that it is terminal, I see the Edmonton Art Gallery in it’s last death rattle without the ability for resuscitation. A new building, or even major renovations, is the least of its problems.

Enough said about the EAG. The following is something I wrote in 1999 before I had my art displayed in public.

“The desire to communicate is human. With amazement, early humans learned to share ideas with one another, beyond instinct. My world is visual and my words are often a shy imitation of what I want to communicate. To me, art is clearer. To understand the human need for art – is to believe that we want to share. We want to share our feelings, our thoughts, our knowledge and our fears with others. Sharing is often between people who have different levels of understanding, or knowledge. This disparity is sometimes the cause for great confusion and turmoil.

I believe that all people have an intrinsic desire to understand one another. Words are the most immediate way of sharing. However words used badly are often misunderstood. To put words in another person’s mouth is perhaps the greatest misunderstanding of all. To presume too much is an error. To believe you have the right to speak your mind to another person is selfish. I am guilty. Sometimes it is just a basic desire to communicate and share. My art is the easiest way to share that I know. It is uniquely me. My world of art often separates me from people who feel there is a secret to being an artist. I try to bridge that gap.”

posted by Christl at 11:37 AM

posted by Christl at 11:33 AM

Sunday, December 28, 2003

A VIEW TO UNDERSTANDING

My next group of paintings is studies of everyday life, photo images that have meaning to me. Juggling children is captured in a multiple image. The moment of a couple’s wedding when there is perfect joy. A couple leaves their wedding towards a future, uncertain. These are photo images which, when put on canvas, create a story worthy of telling.

The Art of Gift-giving
Can you buy a painting as a gift? This is a question that confounds me everyday as spectators or viewers come to browse at my studio called The Red Gallery. I think you can but it is not easy. I have done it once or twice: buying art as a gift. I knew of a printmaker living in Calgary. At the time I was seeing my own work at the Collage of Art and Design in a group show. Then I made a specific visit to her studio and saw her latest prints. These were simple images based of the circle, square and triangle. Immediately I thought of my architect husband and bought two prints. These were a great success and still hang in our home. The prints are moved from room to room just to get a fresh look at them.
When I give my own art as a gift, I try to have a number of works from which that person can select. Usually I can predict which they will select, based on their personalities. And this is where giving art, as a gift is the greatest test. How well do you know the person?
I have received art as a gift. Some art was done because we have a deaf daughter, and our using sign language essentially created the work of art. Other works show more of the artist then of my personal choices of art. In each case the gift has a different intent.
Modern art or Contemporary art is art of the immediate present. In this day of e-mail and reality television, the ability to personalize life, to understand the Buddhist philosophy of “becoming” is often lost. Art can redirect the culture of the moment by showing the value, the perspective and the vision of the everyday.
When an artist creates, she brings to the canvas all her experiences, and thus places the art in the NOW, in the present. Since the artist’s client is the public, interaction is essential, whether this is in an art gallery or in a living room. To look at a work of art, to interact with it, and to see it as a part of the culture and time is essential to the enjoyment of it. Currently web sites, and books are a source for looking at art, but these lack the essence of the real thing. Just like reality television shows are voyeuristic in nature, this is not real life. Art is about real life, the artist’s ability too express the moment in her life that uplifts and is shared by her public.
Art has a personality. When I have purchased art it is because intuitively I feel the painter has created the work just for me. I identify with the work.
Some gifts have no emotional relationship to suggest that one understands the receiver. I am reminded of the reason a diamond is such an easy gift, because it lacks the need to personalize it. It is a diamond, and marketing has made it precious. What do we know of the true value of a diamond? Art is one of a kind, even prints of editions have each it’s individuality. Unless you are being a poster touted as an “original” print in editions over 100. These are not works of art. When you buy a work of art from an artist you can talk about how the artist puts a value on the work. When a Van Gogh gets sold for millions of dollars is that the true value of the work? Were you thinking of the gift to be an investment? Not unlike a diamond, a way to judge your investment is what someone else will pay you for it. So a work of art may be an investment but if you find no one will buy it from you what is its value then.
To trust oneself when buying art as a gift think of the pleasure of owning a work of art. How often will the art catch your eye and you feel that sense of awe. Do you take pride in showing this art to you family and friends? And do you see something of the personality of you and the artist in the work?
Gift certificates from an artist are another possibility where you support both the artist and you act as a participant in the purchase. Deposits on paintings that seem too expensive are another option. And lets not forget that companies can deduct art from their business expenses. The greatest gift for me as an artist is that people come to look at my work and enjoy the art.



Every painting has a story. Sometimes it is the reason for the painting. Often it is the doing of the art that makes the statement. Colour is the subject of a lot of paintings. There may be no image but simply the combination of different colours. I am staring a series of paintings, playing with colours, called The Dead Dog Dogma Series. For a number of years I shared my life with a greyhound, a beautiful dog that photographed rather badly. Too angular and too skinny, even to grace an art deco sculpture. However I have decided to restrict the content of my paintings to the image of this dog, and to paint for the colour. Studying Ad Reinhold’s colour work I was perplexed by seeing black on black. Reading about Kandinsky’s colour theories I have to question how we do respond to different colours. I for one absolutely have a negative reaction to the boring bland pale colours in our elementary schools. My gallery walls are painted red and it works for me. Colours on our houses are a source of interest, when orange and purple shine garishly through our Edmonton winters

posted by Christl at 10:11 AM

Sunday, June 29, 2003

ART IS FOREVER: LIFE IS…

We are here to celebrate my fathers’ life. First may I say, he had a wonderful life, as long as Mom was beside him. He was the kind of person who put all his eggs in one basket when it came to loving someone and that, for him, was JAN, my mom. Sixty -four years of togetherness is quite phenomenal. I hope my sisters and I have the same opportunity with our mates.
My hope is to share some gifts that my father gave to us girls.
It sounds strange to say, but his dying was a gift. Mom,Arja,Ann and Fre, held his hand throughout. Although he was in a coma, we were nurtured by the sight of our parents together. Fré came from Victoria the same night he went into the hospital. Arja and Ann were already by his bedside. For the three days and nights he was in the hospital, we sat around eating donuts, date squares, brownies, chocolates and some fruit. The latter to appease our conscience. We were loud and laughed a lot, telling stories about our father, talking with mom and having our husbands, our kids and their families give us support.
My father would have wanted me to say first, a heartfelt thank you to Arja and Ann, for looking after him while Mom was recently in the Grey Nuns’ Hospital. I know he didn’t like being separated from her, but he also could not look after himself. Your families are included in the thank you.
And you both didn’t stop being Mom’s support when he went into the hospital. At this time I will add all the sister’s to his thank you.
Well, I don’t know if he would have thanked us for talking about him but we remembered stories told to us and shared with each other the things about papa that we remembered. When we ran out of steam we looked in the photo albums. My father didn’t know, when he had a headache that morning, that he would be terminal by the end of the day. As much as I understood my dad, this was for him a good way to die, surrounded by his girls.
When I think of the gifts that my papa gave his daughters I think of Fre, taking her children for a weekend to the ocean, where she is comfortable… just to stare out at the horizon. Love of the out of doors and just sitting there doing nothing….my dad was very good at that. This gift may not be appreciated by all, but you, Fre, appreciate it and you have that part of him.
When Fre, who was born in Alberta, was small she would say, “When I lived in Holland…” She had never been to Holland. But today her home is in Victoria, a city by the ocean. Not unlike the place where my father was born, in Amsterdam. Fre also knows how to make people laugh, just like papa, she often says, “ That was a joke” because not everyone understood that kind of humour.
Arja received the gift of trust. To tell the story of this I go back to when I left for Europe at age 21. My Dad turned to me and said
“If you don’t know it by now, it’s too late.” There is a world of meaning to those words, but I believe he was saying, “I trust you and am not going to worry about you. Have a good time”. Arja has trust in her children, that they may make their own choices in life. And FAITH both is equally committed to their beliefs, Arja to her church and my dad who would argue vehemently his faith, Atheism. She also had a great love of being with my dad, at a time when he was in need of help, trusting that it was simply the right thing to do. That would have been very difficult for me.
When dad was still living in Holland, he participated in organizing youth groups. He put on plays with the young people. The gift that Ann received is the love of organizing and teaching…I sometimes think that her class at school must be like a play. I know at one time she enjoyed participating in drama in high school….. Organizing everyone, whether you wanted to be organized or not, that is one gift.
The other is the very sweet trait of looking at a person in silence and giving them a wink. Ann has passed that on from papa to her kids.
O yes, Ann also received the ability to maintain a slim body size, just like dad.
So my father’s gifts, love of nature, trust in people, organizing…. I admit in his later years mom did all his organizing… but at one time he did love to lead.
My gift…. I learned never to finish anything. In my art this is a good thing, because those spaces in a painting that are unfinished, the viewer can finish. In my home renovations… well thanks, dad. I am still renovating and fixing things that I didn’t complete a few years ago, OK. Twenty some years ago. When my mom and dad built the cabin, it seemed that he was constantly repairing things to make them better, but also with the sense that if he finished it he would have nothing to do. This is also with the gifts he made. He had wonderful ideas but the item, whether toys or children’s furniture, usually needed to be fixed soon after. You knew that the broach, this broach dangling here, he made would have the back pin fall off because he used tiny nails instead of glue. And you cannot throw it out because papa made it.
My father knew right from wrong… but not left from right, another gift I received from him. Names…. Oh, how hard it is to remember a name, when it disappears the second someone is introduced. Thanks a lot, dad. Quips… making people laugh, not always appropriately… but still laughter was more important to my dad than saying the right thing, or should that be the left thing. That was a joke.
People who are here today will remember the times he made us laugh, and that’s what I hope we will take as one of our best memories. Some of you probably still have plants he foisted on you.
He was a person who liked being alone, but I think he was not lonely. As long as he had mom.
The last gift he gave, in an indirect way, was to Christian, David, Ron and Dan. A gift to his girls that if we saw the man we wanted, they were royally caught. You have to admit that once a Bergstrom girl finds her man she will not let him go. This leads to my series of thanks that papa would say if he knew he was leaving life. The thanks are to the husbands who believe, every one of them, that their wives are beautiful, wonderful, smart, funny…like he did. Of the grandchildren, he was always amazed that five of us came off the boat and now there are too many to sometimes remember their names. As he looked at photos of our granddaughter Tori last Wednesday, the last day I saw him alive, he said, “Who is that?” …. Was it a joke? …. With my dad you didn’t always know.
He had great life and a good death…. I hear him now say to me, “Look after mom”.

posted by Christl at 10:34 AM