Don Berger
Don Berger
Don Berger began his studies in 1949, at the Art Institute of Chicago. He attended painting classes taught by his uncle, Edgar Rupprecht, and aunt, Isobel MacKinnon. Other art instructors were Boris Anisfeld, Paul Wieghardt and Leroy Niemann. Granted a BFA degree and a teacher’s certificate, he taught arts & crafts at the Glencoe, Illinois school system for nine years. Simultaneously, he was marketing prints of pen and ink studies…
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Don Berger
Biography:
Don Berger began his studies in 1949, at the Art Institute of Chicago. He attended painting classes taught by his uncle, Edgar Rupprecht, and aunt, Isobel MacKinnon. Other art instructors were Boris Anisfeld, Paul Wieghardt and Leroy Niemann. Granted a BFA degree and a teacher’s certificate, he taught arts & crafts at the Glencoe, Illinois school system for nine years. Simultaneously, he was marketing prints of pen and ink studies of Chicago scenes in downtown galleries and exhibiting paintings at the Deerpath Gallery in Lake Forest.
In 1968, the Berger family of five moved to a ranch in the B.C. interior where Don painted landscapes of the Cariboo & Chilcotin, exhibiting them at the Fraser Gallery in Vancouver, B.C. Since then he has exhibited at the Waterwheel Gallery in Estes Park, Colo., R. Ricketts Gallery in Dallas, Texas, and the Horizons West Gallery in Vancouver, B.C.
ARTIST STATEMENT
In 1994 I initiated a series of paintings called “Openings” with two large (36” x 48”) oil on canvas studies of an open rose and a multi-layered begonia. The intent was to convey to the viewer a fresh way to observe the ordinary and everyday. By the paining the flowers larger than life, it’s as though they are seen through a giant magnifying glass, revealing details that are probably frequently overlooked.
Since that time and after receiving much encouragement from those who viewed these tentative steps, I’ve been accepted to the Harrison Galleries of Calgary, AB, and Vancouver, BC, the SR Brennen Gallery of Fine Art in Palm Desert, CA, as well as the Tallentyre Gallery of Morpeth, UK.
Gardening is a major pastime for me, and it is in this framework that I saw unlimited forms of opportunity for visual study. The interplay of light and shadow, color, texture, shape and structure are all elements with which I work.
With several recent works I’ve digressed a little, treating the subject matter in a semi abstract way. This is a style I’d like to explore in future and the result could quite possibly be a departure from the horticultural reality to a presentation of color and form with little recognizable structure.