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Munich
Vienna
gallery by the castle
Heidenreichstein
Attracted to strong composition, mood, design elements and spatial interaction; artist,
Cathleen Van Bergen favors movement, expressive marks, and brushwork. Van Bergen also
employs the use of pattern, color combinations and texture to express mood and emotion.
Van Bergen, a graduate of the Academy of Art in San Francisco, California is an author,
footwear designer and gallery painter. Always experimenting with different mediums and
subject matter, Van Bergen feels that to experience art is the highest compliment. That is the
driving force behind her work.
As an artist, designer and author, I create art because of a need to capture my feelings and
emotions of events, places, people and experiences in my life.
Art, as in life, is an ever-changing, powerful expressive force. My creative process seeks out
the unusual or something beyond itself. I favor drawing and painting because I feel most
comfortable with the pencil and the brush. I favor movement, fluid expressive marks and
brushwork. I enjoy the use of patterns, unique color palettes and texture to express mood and
emotion.
I have been drawing and painting since the time I could first hold a pencil or brush as a child. I
found that creating art was an extension of me that came naturally throughout my life.
I hold a BFA from the Academy of Art in San Francisco, California where I studied Art History
and Lithography extensively ,drawing and painting.
I wrote and illustrated my first book ,”An Altar of Change” in 2017,which explored the
relationship between the human condition and technology. I hope to write and illustrate
children’s books in the future. My work has been featured in the Medical Lab at Kaiser
Permanente Park Shadelands, Walnut Creek, California as well as the Permanente Medical
Journal and Southwest Art magazine. I have been a gallery painter for more than 10 years,
and recently started designing footwear.
To experience art is the highest compliment. That is the driving force behind my work.
See Beyond your eyes
Oil on canvas, 24‘ x 24‘
2023
de