ARTIST LAURA BERGER
Contemporary artist Laura Berger lives and works in Chicago although she and her partner always have their eyes on a warmer climate! Her art studio is in the Mana Contemporary building with big windows and nice light and her couple of plants who keep her the most wonderful company. Her art explores rituals, nature, and our sense of belonging.
I didn’t originally set out to be a painter, I went to school for theatre and design. I started painting after going through a particularly challenging period in my life as a way to distract myself and it ended up being a really therapeutic thing for me that then developed naturally into a daily practice. I’ve been teaching myself over many years and trying to learn and grow.
Tell us about your greatest inspirations or influences?
My biggest source of inspiration is really just the human experience, and particularly the more subconscious / emotional / spiritual experiences that we have. I’ve always been interested in psychology and interpersonal relationship. Dreams are also very important to me, as is travel. I’ve really missed being able to travel internationally.
My ideas for paintings tend to come to me like fully formed little snapshots in my mind – either a visual or a phrase or story – and often when I’m either doing something where my mind isn’t tied down too much (things like driving long distances or showering) or when I’m meditating. When I sit with my eyes closed, often images will arrive.
Tell us a bit about your creative process?
I keep a running list of ideas as they come to me. These are generally written out with words, rather than drawn, which seems a bit counterintuitive but it’s always been what I’ve done! I reference these often and continue to add to them. My paintings are pretty carefully planned out and always start with small sketches, which I then continue to work on and edit until I have the composition how I want it. Then I decide on the sizing, stretch the canvas and transfer the image to the canvas to begin to paint. Lately I’ve been allowing color choices to happen intuitively lately rather than planning studies in advance. I just switched to oil paint about a year ago so I’ve been immersed in learning the medium. It’s so tactile and physically enjoyable to work with; I really love it.
How has the pandemic affected your creativity and how do you see the world changing?
I have definitely felt quite emotionally and creatively affected by the pandemic – I really slowed down my work production up until a few months ago while I was trying to regain footing. I feel like I had some personal losses that were quite difficult for me to navigate and I’m also such an empath… the whole thing has just been a lot, there’s obviously so much grieving happening on personal and global levels. And it’s been an entirely new experience for us all to learn how best to stay centered and healthy, to reconfigure our lives, our relationships, and sort through old ways of doing things or finding meaning and sane functioning in the midst of this. I feel like I’m just finally regaining my flow with work in the past few months, so things are feeling more normal again for me creatively which is truly a massive relief.
Who do you consider to be an icon of our time?
Gloria Steinem
What does wellbeing mean to you, and what do you practice?
Wellbeing to me means a feeling of wholeness or completeness, a grounded sense inside of oneself, as well as maybe an ability to access contentedness within whatever the current reality is offering up. Not always an easy feat these days! I try to meditate daily for at least 20 minutes, sometimes morning and night if I can. I’ve also developed a daily walking habit during the pandemic which has become quite meaningful to me. Painting, of course! And looking at art of all kinds. Being in nature, cooking and eating with my partner or friends. Taking photos, taking baths, petting animals, seeking out connection. And I love yoga.
Thank you so much for joining us today Laura.
Instagram : @_lauraberger_