Pirjo Berg
Basic information
Artist
Residence: Socorro, New Mexico, USA
Contact information
Email: artbypirjoberg@gmail.com
Artist’s Statement
The striped Finnish rag rugs and woven wall hangings are traditional and typical decorations in Finnish homes. The colors, patterns, and stripes that inspire my paintings, filled the floors and walls of my childhood home. It is a common experience that one’s childhood visual world defines what one considers familiar even later in life. As an immigrant, this accentuates my longing for the old places and times that largely do not exist anymore. This evokes the nostalgic, romantic feeling of the life lived, and times left behind; like foggy memories of a place that I feel I have been in the past but cannot quite recall all the details of the experience. In geological formations, such as canyon walls, I see the same familiar patterns at an enormous scale representing much longer periods. I am interested in the possibilities of capturing the essence of geological time, a length of time that is difficult for us to comprehend. The core samples collected by geologists reveal variations in climate, life forms, and sedimentary composition, which fascinate me.
