Capturing the Moment and Walking Through History

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For as long as she could remember, Professor Marit Berg had always wanted to visit Greece: her fascination with the Minoan culture, the city of Crete, and the ancient site of Knossos, were always desired trips she dreamed of one day making. In the Fall of 2016, she was able to make this trip, and came back with numerous sketches and paintings she created herself. “In the cities, especially in Crete,” Berg said, “I was enchanted by the Venetian architecture. I tried to capture the intimacy of the narrow passage ways and Baroque architecture.”

Professor Berg’s pieces vary from sketches she made in the moment, to paintings she made in the moments after. Berg has been an artist all her life, and an art professor and Tacoma Community College (TCC) for about 20 years. She grew up with artistic parents, and traveled throughout Europe and Mexico before she was 10 years old.

Berg’s art style in the past differs from this gallery. Her paintings usually rely on “shared knowledge and symbolic reference.” She considers her past work to be more surreal, since she uses contrasting themes and images to evoke new connections. Her paintings and sketches in “Recent Travels,” were inspired by what was right in front of her, and were encapsulated moments.

“The Apartment, Athens,” Berg wrote in her Gallery Statement to Pierce, is a reflection on her observation of a city with a “dichotomy of ancient cultural sites.” Berg says Athens is a “lively city, a bit rough around the edges, selling you cheap tourist icons of the past.” But she still believes the city “impresses people with a deep and vast sense of time.”

One of Berg’s favorite pieces from the trip, was one of her 10-year-old daughter, Maeve, reading on a couch. This moment was captured after a decent extra day they spent in Athens, and just before that, however, they had a stressful time re-booking tickets to Mykonos, due to a recent ferry worker’s strike in Athens. “This piece is about making the best out of the unexpected,” said Berg. “The sketches are also important emotionally because you engage so intensely with your surroundings for a short period of time.” Berg believes that sketches like those can take the artist right back to the moment.

When Berg travels, she always carries some painting supplies as well as her sketchbook. This gallery is meant to inspire artists to want to keep a sketchbook with them wherever they travel. Her gallery will be up until February 28^th, which will conclude with a ceremony and Q&A session with Professor Berg, all in the Fine Arts Gallery.