There are so many things we can try to make better. Thanks
to Yuma Art Symposium for giving me an opportunity to think about it with
you. I will focus on the theme of
Amendments in a presentation, a brief demonstration and with a few artworks in
the West Gallery of the Yuma Art Center January through February 2020.
It could be said that all of my artwork is just a set of
self-portraits. I say that because
they are all about people and conditions I have seen. Those observations affect
me in my own particular way and I sift through them to a portrait and story of
someone who has experienced what I noticed. But, I know my interpretation
cannot be taken as the “truth."
It is just the way I work it through, with a hope for something that can
apply to the experience of many others and may be just a bit better or have a
touch of humor in what usually begins as a negative concern.
"Triker" 2009
Hand crochet and wire
sculpting with gut, button work,
recycled parts of metal tricycle, and
reconstructed antique doilies
Most of my adult life was invested as a development director
in not-for-profit institutions. I needed a dependable income to insure that I
would be able to support myself and save enough to convert to a full-time art
career. Fortunately I found jobs where I was in close contact with many
creative people who kept my brain busy thinking even when I had little time to
set my hands in motion.
Once those hands got to moving, I found that what I really
wanted was to skip the formal art techniques I had studied over the years and
find a way to use the more personal methods I learned as a child…sewing,
knitting, and crochet. I was
thinking about stories from my childhood and issues that seemed very personal,
but also universal. To me these
hand techniques seemed the best way for me to tell those stories. So, I began.
"Countdown" 2008
Hand crochet over wire
sculpting
My first fiber artwork fingered through painful childhood
memories and were actually often self-portraits. I moved through health issues of friends and family, my
homeless brother, my foster mother’s aging and death, and untold tales of
mysterious relatives. In every
case, telling the story was a growth experience for me, both in resolving an
issue and expanding my artistic approach. Each personally known story also had
a more universal application that I hoped could reach others with hope and
sometimes laughter.
"Mikey of Mallory" 2012
Hand crochet,
stitching and button work
In recent years, my thoughts are more focused on obvious
current questions: border issues, the role of women, and gun violence, along
with continuing health and aging. Always there is a relative or friend whose
experience fits the issue.
I hope you will join me in unbuttoning stories and brokering
amendments for a positive journey forward.
Marie Bergstedt working on "Fit" 2018
Hand knitting, crochet, and stitching
Marie will present her work at the 2020 Yuma Art Symposium
Hope to see you there!