Gary Bergel considers himself a multi-disciplinary artist.  He creates photographic art, assemblages, paintings, and installations by finding beauty in the ordinary of every day.  If you’ve visited the Berkeley Art Works, you are familiar with the range of his work.

For Gary, opportunities abound in daily life.  “I always carry my iPhone with me.  Sometimes what I capture is autobiographical.  It is somehow related to my life in the moment.”  Photography can also be a tool for seeing and sketching ideas for later expressions in acrylic paint.  “What I create is a result of my daily experiences.”  He keeps four questions at the forefront of his life to help him create:  Who am I? Where did I come from? What can I learn? How is what I do important to me?  “My art adjusts to my spiritual condition and I am committed to stay in a state of listening, looking, and learning,” Gary says.

Gary grew up in the Lakeshore area of Wisconsin.  He began experimenting with art materials in grade school.  He was educated by Franciscans, who also encouraged his creativity.  Gary credits his passion for pastoral beauty and the environment, and being present to the here and now, to that time in his life.  His high school science teacher, who also ran the photography club, encouraged his passion for film photography and gave Gary the use of his darkroom.  Through his camera work, Gary kindled an appreciation for the smaller details of life.

Gary operated a photo studio during his mid-teen years, shooting portraits and weddings, which helped finance his education at the University of Wisconsin (UW), Madison.  There, he completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education, Biology major with Natural Science and Art minors.  He completed Senior Thesis research in Lichenology and Chemical Taxonomy with noted botanist Dr. John W. Thomson (1913-2009).  His passion for art led to a Master of Arts degree in Mixed Media also from UW.  “I studied under the renowned ceramic artist Don Reitz (1929-2014), the noted private press artist Walter Hamady (1940-2019), and was a classmate of glass sculptor Dale Chihuly.”  The Master’s degree program provided mentoring by visiting artists from New York and elsewhere, such as Abstract Expressionist pioneer Milton Resnik (1917-2004), and American Realist painter Jack Beal (1931-2013).  “It was a great cross-pollinating time.  For my MA degree show I mounted an ‘environment’, referred to today as an ‘installation’.”

As part of the Humanities faculty at Western Michigan University (WMU), Kalamazoo, Gary founded Space Gallery, curated exhibits, and taught Arts and Ideas courses, which integrated lectures by visiting artists.  He engaged in Postgraduate Study in the WMU art department with Lithographer/Painter Curtis Rhodes.  WMU Ford Foundation grants allowed him to explore experimental printmaking, photography, and mixed media installation.

Gary is always ready to capture the happenings and beauty surrounding him.  “Working from a personal blend of Eastern and Western aesthetics, I endeavor to express and reflect the way nature encompasses and speaks of beauty, spirituality, truth and divinity,” he says.  “I’ve always been interested in the life of the Spirit, intrigued by contemplative prayer, and became dedicated to social justice work.  I was fortunate to spend a good number of years doing neighborhood reconciliation and ecumenical work.”  Leaving WMU, he became more involved in trans-denominational networks and worked in community development in Native American communities as well as internationally.  His travels fuel his artwork.

Gary has been instrumental in creating opportunities for art to grow in our region.  A member of the Berkeley Arts Council’s Artists at the Works co-op since 2013, he has served two years on the Board of Directors and is a wise advisor in our governance.  He sequences the hanging of our exhibits, which brings a consistent voice to all of our visual presentations.  In April this year, he designed and created a window display in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, which presented thought-provoking highlights of the modern environmental movement.  This past February, he curated a show of local tattoo artists to bring more attention to the medium and to these artists as members of our business community.  Tattoo and Beyond featured tattoo designs and artwork in other media.  In January, he helped his friend and fellow co-op member Doug Kinnett, coordinate monthly art critique sessions (put on hold temporarily due to Coronavirus restrictions).  Through his volunteer work in the Healing Arts Center at the Martinsburg Veterans Administration Medical Center he curated the Veteran’s Vernacular exhibition at the Berkeley Art Works in observance of the Armistice Day 100^th Anniversary in November, 2018.

In the wider community, he was a founding board member of the Washington Street Artists’ Cooperative in Charles Town, WV.  He has taught Visual Arts, Creativity, Color and Design and Introductory Digital Photography classes as an adjunct faculty member at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College in Martinsburg, WV.  He is part of the Shenandoah Arts Council Artists’ Advisory Board in Winchester, VA.  His efforts with the Veteran’s Vernacular exhibit influenced the Shenandoah Arts Council and the Delaplaine Art Center in Frederick, MD to also exhibit work by regional veterans.

Gary has received a number of awards, and has works in private, university, and regional museum collections.  He has juried for a number of exhibitions, including the Vizzi Awards at the James Rumsey Technical Institute (Martinsburg, WV), and for a Black and White exhibition at the Shenandoah Arts Council.  Recently, he juried into the 2018 Cumberland Valley Artists and Photographers Exhibition at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts (Hagerstown, MD) and a juried group exhibit at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (Winchester, VA).  Gary exhibits at The Bridge Gallery (Shepherdstown, WV) and you can always visit his Web site, https://garybergel.com.

Gary and his wife Susan make their home near Charles Town, WV.  They have raised ten children; “all are unique and wonderfully creative,” said Gary.  Their activities range from photography to carpentry, surf and skate board design, engineering, dog breeding and training, blogging, teaching piano, and more.  Susan is an award-winning canary breeder.

Come to the Berkeley Art Works anytime this month to see Gary’s work featured in our front window!  You can also see some of his recent photography on the Berkeley Arts Council Web site at https://berkeleyartswv.org/artists-at-the-works-galleries/.  And of course, you can always come into the gallery on Fridays and Saturdays between 11am and 3pm to see what else is up in the co-op.

(by Annette Verna)

Our featured artist for June is Sue Parker.  She is one of the original members of the Berkeley Arts Council’s Artists at the Works co-op, which started in 2013.

Sue works in a variety of media:  oil paint, watercolor, pastel, charcoal, etc.  She studied watercolor for 4 years with Irene Sylvester, artist-in-residence at Montpelier Arts Center (Laurel, Maryland), and received additional instruction in watercolor from Frank Webb (AWS), Lynn Ferris (NWS), Kent Roberts, and Fritz Briggs (AWS).  She also studied classical oil painting for 2 years with Michael Davis, and studies on an ongoing basis with David Buckley Good.  The latter three artists are instructors, or have been trained at the Schuler School of Fine Art in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sue chooses her subjects, either as they occur to her spontaneously, or in the case of landscapes, she sees something that captures her imagination.  She usually starts by sketching her ideas.  She chooses the medium for executing her ideas based on the subject and her mood.  Looking at Sue’s paintings, it’s obvious that she loves color, and the depth and richness she achieves through its use, especially in her oil paintings, is striking.  Her training has taught her to look deeply at her subjects to see carefully what is really there, as well as what isn’t — both equally important.

What does she try to achieve in her work?  “My goal is to focus attention, if only briefly, on the beauty (and quirkiness) in the things around us that often escape our notice as we rush about our daily lives.  I love capturing quirkiness and, occasionally, more serious messages in my art, though in general I prefer the pacific and the humorous.”  Aside from art, Sue’s other passion is history.  “I’m fond of saying that I don’t think most people become interested in history until they have some themselves.”  She loves thinking about the narrative — real or imagined — that an old object or scene evokes.  “For me, a painting is all about the story it draws from the viewer.  The story may not even have words, just the emotion evoked by the image.”

It is typical for Sue to have multiple pieces in progress concurrently in each medium. She likes shifting from one medium to another.  She currently has 4 oil paintings in progress:  3 landscapes and a carousel, and a series of small watercolors of woodland stumps, each with a different “personality”, that she’s seen on her regular hikes.

Sue is very active in her local arts communities.  She always has a variety of work on display at the Berkeley Art Works gallery and you can also see her work at the Valley Art Association Mansion House in Hagerstown, Maryland, the Washington Street Artists’ Cooperative in Charles Town, and also through the Potomac River Artists’ Guild.  Her work has been accepted in juried shows at the Washington County (Maryland) Museum of Fine Arts, the Washington County Arts Council, the Delaplaine Art Center (Frederick), Art at the Mill (Berryville, Virginia,) and the Morgan Arts Council Ice House and Art in the Park in Berkeley Springs, WV.

In addition to her busy exhibits activities, Sue also serves on the Board of Directors of the Berkeley Arts Council, and the Board of Trustees of the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts.  She was also involved in the planning and development of the Hagerstown Cultural Trail, which connects Hagerstown’s downtown Arts & Entertainment District with City Park and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. She and her husband make their home in West Virginia on a farm her family bought in 1952.