Min??s is a small storefront on Hampden's West 36th Street, also known as "The Avenue." Amidst a cozy jumble of books and secondhand clothes is a small staircase that leads to a room with creamy walls and glossy floors. Sunlight streams through a big window. Antiques are objets d'art. An old-fashioned typewriter sits precariously atop a table of delicate swirls while a stern-looking pew adds a touch of darkness to the light space. The Min??s Gallery is the perfect setting for Christy Bergland's Paintings and Drawings in the Jones Falls Valley, a series that celebrates the simple charms of everyday life in Baltimore.
Bergland serves as Board President of the Creative Alliance. She also works for Shepherd Pratt Hospital as an art therapist. Her paintings and sketches capture everything from the tops of buildings to the trees that line the Jones Falls River. She also shows a particular interest in windows, because they not only frame a view but also reconfigure it. She writes in the artist's statement, "The window frame that looks from the inside out acts as a transitional object. I then go outside, where I create drawings and paintings of views across the Jones Falls Valley. From this outside vantage point I go back inside to continue my work." Her philosophy adds a dimension to her drawings and paintings because it allows the viewer to see not only what she shows but also how and why she shows it.
Five paintings titled "Window Still Life" form the centerpiece of the series. Each painting shows a view of the Jones Falls Valley framed not only by a window but also the objects in the room. "Window Still Life #1" (1993 - 2000) sets off the airy, bright blues and greens of spring with a dark interior of muted browns. Clusters of jewel-colored bottles on the windowsill capture light and scatter it around the room. As a result, bold, strong lines blur and create shadows that add depth to the painting. "Window Still Life #2" (1993 - 1998) also features the blues and greens of spring. However, Bergland frames the window with a room that compliments the view. Pale green walls and a periwinkle window frame absorb the light and add dimensions to the view. The foliage is dense rather than feathery and softened by shadow. "Window Still Life #3" (1994 - 2004) presents a sober counterpoint with a view of bare brown-gray branches that slash the winter sky. Sky blue walls and a child's trophy on the windowsill are cheerful touches but exist as accents rather than focal points.
In contrast, "Window Still Life #4" (1994 - 2000) returns to the lightness of the first two paintings of the group. A shadow box contains a view in which Bergland paints sky and land with loose daubs of color. A barely-visible spider web etched in blue-gray and a pair of elaborate postcards framed in bold, bright peach make for a striking contrast. The last painting in the group, "Window Still Life #5" (1995 - 2004), contains big, bold blocks of color. A ruby red cardinal perched on the edge of a slate blue roof adds a splash of color to the view, a shadowy corner of self-contained space. A detailed picture of a sober, serious boy in overalls stands on the windowsill, framed in the same bold, bright peach that appears in "Window Still Life #4." The picture of the boy centers the painting and masterfully draws the eye of the viewer.
In "Viola Walsh's Stone House" (2002 - 2003), a Baltimore evening sun serves as the backdrop for an arrangement of kitschy flowers, magazine clippings, and personal artifacts overlaid with a sheet of Plexiglass that bears a crude sketch of the outline of a house. "Viola Walsh at Home" is all bold colors and stark lines. A tablecloth of aqua and orange fronds forms a marked contrast to the dull gray and orange walls that recede into black and blue-green shadows. The focus on the surroundings almost overwhelms the subject. Bergland paints her with an eye towards her mind and spirit rather than her body. As a result, her face bears the blurry quality of a picture taken through a Vaseline-smeared lens. Both paintings are fun and quirky, but they also exhibit character and depth.
Bergland's drawings and paintings feature views of a world far removed from the Baltimore of glossy downtown and gritty Greenmount. However, one of the last paintings in the series amusingly ties the Jones Falls Valley to the rest of the city. A coolly elegant winter scene done with a precise hand features a cottage to the left and a wall to the right, both painted in shades of brown and gray. A huge tree in the center dominates the painting with slashing black branches that reach out of the painting and blend into the weathered oak that serves as the canvas. Suspended from the sky is a glowing orb that illuminates the entire painting.
Is it a bird? A plane? No. It's ... a Pepsi sign. Specifically, "Pepsi Sign, Winter" (2003).
