Interview with Lou Bermingham
I'm on a journey into the mysteries of Art as a Life Expression--as a path or way of life.
After years of creating paintings, drawings, architectural glass panels in the Bay Area, and then living in Egypt, as well as in France, I spent years in the ghost town of Holy City, in the Santa Cruz Mountains of N. California where my studio was located. It was there in 1989 when I had a dream in which I saw over 200 completed artworks flashing across my dreaming memory.
When I woke up, I immediately painted the first artwork I could remember and have been influenced by this vision ever since.
I'm influenced by the natural world as much as by my dreams, contemporary events and art historical imagery. When I'm exploring a cave looking at all the incredible living "sculptures," with its myriad colors and textures it is awe inspiring and fascinating.
My training in the Japanese martial art of Aikido created by Grand Master Morihei Ueshiba, O-Sensei, mystic and warrior for peace, has tremendously influenced my artwork and how I create it.
Embedded in my artworks are sacred archetypes, totem animals, and colors immediately felt by your body, mind, and spirit that resonate with you at different times, in different ways. It's my belief that the use and appreciation of color and various organic shapes can affect a conscious and positive change in individuals creating and allowing for deeper access to one's own inspiration, intuition, and imagination.
I believe that art making is an alchemical process which allows the individual to transform base visions into vital energies needed for the rebalancing of ourselves and of our world, and ultimately to help bring Peace to this beautiful planet, Earth. - Lou Bermingham
Can you tell us about the moment you decided to pursue a career as an artist?
I think I realized I was going to be an artist when I was 10 years old. My elementary school teacher asked me to draw a huge mural that stretched across the back of the classroom on a roll of white paper a meter wide on what we were studying in history about WWII. It took me several weeks to draw, and I was totally involved in it and inspired by the sense of accomplishment it gave me when done.
What kind of an artist do you ultimately see yourself?
What I’m creating has to radiate positive energy going forth into the universe—it doesn’t mean it has to be “pretty” art. It can be something that is misunderstood at first, but the art has to be inspirational and give people a sense of encouragement, joy, and hope.
What do you want your art to convey to the people who see it?
Embedded in my artworks are sacred archetypes, totem animals, and colors creating another “world.” I want my audiences to be pulled into these “worlds” I’ve created. I’d like viewers to be drawn to the colors, shapes, and lines of my work and to sense the various symbols within the texture of the art. I believe art should be a total experience involving the body, emotions, mind and spirit of the individual.
What is the meaning or creative motivation behind your work?
I’m following a vision I had years ago in a dreaming state that really inspired me. I’d been already working for years on some early installation projects, mixed media paintings and drawings. Then I had a dream in which I saw volumes of images flashing across my dreaming memory. When I woke up, I painted the first one I could remember and have attempted to follow this vision ever since. I paint because it’s my voice.
Can you tell us about the process you use to create your works? What is you typical workday routine?
Process:
I’m constantly reworking shapes, symbols, or totemic animals, which I’ve explored over the years in my drawings, designs, and paintings. These are usually forms I’ve observed over years hiking through the woods, swimming in the ocean, or exploring caverns, or animal archetypes that hold significance for me such as crows, bees, frogs, bears, felines, dolphins and horses.
I’m always working on at least 6 different pieces of art, so my creative energies can flow from one to the next. It’s really important for me is to spend time with the art, get impressions about what I’ve done so far before I continue to work.
And as far as finishing a work, there’s no way to tell because until I get a gut feeling about the work, it’s not done. When I get that feeling, I know it’s done.
Workday Routine:
I walk into the studio, and I do a brief greeting to the creative energies of the studio. I do some Aikido training with a bokken—wooden sword, or a jo--wooden staff. I do Aikido exercises and breathing to get further into the creative “flow” or energetic connection to the artwork I’m working on. I often start to draw as well, and the drawing does not have to be related to my current work, but allows me to access a deeper level of concentration and focus.
Then I just start in with either more drawing with charcoal directly on the current piece, or I squeeze out some paint directly onto the surface and start to work…. And later I might have an espresso and step back and look at what I’ve done, or I might go directly to another piece.
Where do you find inspiration? What motivates you to create?
Being close to nature is very important no matter where I am—even in a city, one can find a park—I need to spend time around trees, and most days I walk my dogs to a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
My dreams have always been a source of inspiration. I try to remember them when I wake up, and my Aikido training has always been very important as a way for me to tap into my creativity on physical, feeling, sensing level.
My wife, Christy, and I go caving and descending deep into a cavern is very inspiring. Looking at all the incredible “living” sculptures inside a cave with its myriad earthen tones, textures, and forms is compelling and fascinating.
Motivation to Create:
I can’t really remember a time when I wasn’t motivated to create something—whether a drawing, painting, or covering a car with an array of different designs— I’ve always felt like a conduit for a creative force that needs to express itself independently of my personal moods, desires.
What has been your most outstanding achievement to date?
In my professional artistic career it’s been the opportunity to have 2 solo museum shows. One was at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, California, and the other was at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka, far north on the wild coast of Humboldt county.
I’m also very honored to show in Curated by the Sea Art Gallery, in Santa Cruz, as well as having been featured in a number of other galleries including Gallery 85 owned by the former 49er football player, Vernon Davis, for the Vernon Davis Foundation for the Arts in Silicon Valley.
What are your ultimate career goals?
I’m going to continue doing my artwork, and hopefully inspiring others to take a creative path in their own lives!
And of course, I’m working on being in the Venice Biennale….
What are you working on now, and what can we expect from you?
I’m working on a large triptych that incorporates sacred elements of Japanese mythology, totemic imagery, and a screen of colors…. I’m doing works on paper that are more purely abstract, and I’m also working—very slowly! —on 2 different installations, which I’ll discuss in a future interview….
