See it, feel it, touch it: Bergen wants to engage viewers with her ceramics

For ceramics artist Teresa Bergen, interactivity is a key component of the user’s experience. Many of Bergen’s pieces feature hinges or knobs that pull and twist to reveal a hidden feature.

She says she likes that her pieces “engage you in the same way a functional piece of pottery would.”

Several of Bergen’s pieces are currently on display at the Prow Gallery in downtown Halifax.

One of her pieces, Running in Circles, a 15-inch finely detailed ceramic egg, coloured red, gold, black and white, and featuring gold lustre opens with two small knobs to reveal a mother figure holding an infant; the interior of the piece is adorned with hand-drawn images of family life.

Another piece called Man Eating Lions, an intricately painted teapot, features shades of blue and green. The sides of the teapot are open, displaying meticulously crafted lionesque figures. When turned, the handle on the lid of the teapot rotates the figures.

Bergen was drawn to ceramics because it’s an approachable medium. “Clay is just a bag of dirt, mud. And it’s not something you can wreck. It’s nothing until you play with it and turn it into something else. I think that’s kind of the magic of it,” she said.

Bergen feels it’s important that people can physically interact with her art. “Definitely I want to move away from the very serious hands off idea,” she said.

Born in Vancouver, Bergen moved to Chester in 2005 where she established her studio and gallery. After finishing her degree in Vancouver, Bergen began further studies at NSCAD in Halifax. From there, she made the journey to Dawson City, Yukon, where she became the artist in residence through the Klondike Institute for Art and Culture.

As a student at Langara College in Vancouver, Bergen enrolled in a pottery night class. “During all my other classes, I would be drawing pictures of what I was going to make in pottery class, and they had an art program there so I decided, oh maybe I’ll just sign up for the art program. I loved it so much,” she said.

From that point, Bergen began an almost two-decade arts career.

During her residence in Yukon, Bergen noticed that there were “really interesting characters there and being the artist in residence really gave me inspiration and also the confidence to say, ‘Yes, I am an artist.’ ”

Bergen considers her artistic style to be playful, colourful and experimental. She says her process begins by drawing a basic sketch, and then she gets right to building.

Bergen’s inspiration largely comes from her own life and the world around her. Her own family, the ups and downs of life in general, all congregate in her work.

She also attempts to find a balance in her work in terms of what each piece represents. She wants the viewers of her work to “find a bit of themselves” in her work.

“I hope that it’s not so personal that people can’t relate. I want it to be a bit more of the universal experience,” she said.

“Teresa’s ability to intertwine storytelling in her beautiful ceramic sculptures is captivating for gallery guests. Using humour and a keen eye for detail, her work draws the viewer in for an extraordinary view of mythology and personal stories,” Prow Gallery manager Kim Farmer said in an emailed statement.