Third Street Gallery archive: 2017 Exhibitions: Significant Moments: JoAnne Berke

Humboldt State University Third Street Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition featuring works by JoAnne Berke. The exhibition, Significant Moments, will run from November 24 through December 31.

JoAnne Berke is a retiring professor of Art Education at Humboldt State University, a position she has held since 1994.  A life-long world traveler who continues to teach Art-Ed workshops in China, Berke is responsible for having mentored and trained many art instructors who are currently working in the K-12 school systems in California and beyond.

The exhibition, Significant Moments, has a selection of works spanning the period of 1985 through the present.  Works on paper, drawing, mixed media, paint and mosaic will be on display.

In Berke’s mixed media pieces, her penchant for incorporating the written word as a conceptual device that simultaneously provides a compositional structure for the work, is on full display.  Visitors to the gallery will also encounter mosaic and found object sculpture that range from the absurdly ironic to somber beauty in tone.  Two of these sculptures, Seed Catcher, 2009 and Ancestors, 2017 highlight Berke’s bravado mosaic technique as applied to architectural forms.

JoAnne Berke’s conceptual approach is tempered by a narrative impulse that reflects significant episodes and developments in her life.  This is especially evident in the three rebuses that document her life events spanning the years of 1985 through 2014.  A rebus is a puzzle in which words are represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters; for instance, apex might be represented by a picture of an ape followed by the letter X.

The artist states that, “At the time of this exhibition I will be completing my last semester teaching at HSU. I think of this exhibition as a significant moment and the exclamation point to the end of a successful career of 45-years teaching art, and also perhaps, a time for my own rebirth as an artist.”

Exhibition Schedule 

The exhibition will run from November 24 through December 31.  A reception for the artist will be held Saturday, December 2, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. during Eureka’s monthly Arts Alive event. The gallery will be open daily from noon to 5 p.m. The gallery will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Admission is free. Those planning group tours are encouraged to call ahead. Humboldt State University Third Street Gallery is located at 416 Third Street Eureka, California.  The gallery was recently relocated and renamed after 19 years in its former location on First Street in Eureka. For more information call 707-443-6363

Once you reveal to someone that you’re a visual artist, they inevitably ask, “What medium do you work in; are you a painter, a sculptor, a printmaker?” Even though most people want a simple answer, I usually give them the unsatisfactory response that I’ve worked in wide range of media through out my artistic career. For me it’s never been about the medium, it’s about the idea and how I can best convey the concept.

 In this exhibition I have chosen two and three-dimensional pieces that are mixed media and narrative in nature. They have been described as wry interpretations of our culture and society and are examples of work that has had significant meaning in my life as I’ve responded to personal transitions and global, and societal issues.

In Rebus I, II and III, I use the format of a rebus, a word puzzle that uses pictures to represent words, to tell stories about personal transitions.  The rebus became popular in the 18th century. In linguistics, the Rebus Principle means using existing symbols such as pictograms that are similar to what many ancient writing systems used. As our world becomes more and more visual I feel the rebus is having a rebirth and all of a sudden feels very 21st century.

In pieces, It’s all French to Me and  he Book of Knowledge texting acronyms and technological transitions in my lifetime are explored.

 In  Seed Catcher and  Irma I speak to ecological and climate issues.

The three-dimensional piece,  Ancestors is a meditation on mortality.

Become One With Nature refers to the struggle with the artist process.

Shiva Lingam are reflections on the unity and duality of male/female energy. 
At the time of this exhibition I will be completing my last semester teaching at HSU. I think of this exhibition as a significant moment and the exclamation point to the end of a successful career of 45-years teaching art, and also perhaps, a time for my own rebirth as an artist.

JoAnne Berke
Winter 2017