2025
Exhibition - I am thrilled that together with my daughter Adryan Bergstrom-Borins we will present "Encrypted Identities, Decoded Histories" a multimedia installation will be held at Xchanges Gallery and Studios in Victoria, BC from July 11-27, 2025.
Artist Talk, Sunday, July 20th – 2pm
Register for the Online Link here (Google Meet): https://forms.gle/ZQfgw4cSAdQxAdox8
I am very excited about this exhibition not only because it has been long in the making, but because I am for the first time, collaborating with my daughter Adryan. Together we are bringing together the story of our Icelandic and Metis heritage (no accent on the "e" is intentional), which for many in my family, has only been myth and legend. At the same time, we wrestle with aspects of our settler and Metis histories to unpack myths that are common in Canadian society and our own family and to recognize and
celebrate our ancestors.
celebrate our ancestors.
The work is one installation comprised of several parts, in a variety of media from textiles to traditional beading to video mapping, which were created in Iceland, Spain, Netherlands, and in Canada in Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta), Manitoba (Gimli), and British Columbia (Metchosin). The creation of this work has required extensive research both personal and academic, collaboration, experimentation, and learning. It has also required the support of many of you who have provided photographs, information, encouragement, and expertise in many areas.
Victoria Sustainable Arts Coalition - this is a project I have been involved with for the past 3 years, working with a large coalition of artist run centres to buy a building under a Cultural Land Trust and create the first Culture Quarter in Victoria, BC. This will provide a stable home for artist run centres, leverage economies of scale in a beautiful, new, safe building. Read about the details here: https://xchangesgallery.org/2025/06/02/help-us-bring-the-dream-to-life-a-new-home-for-xchanges-a-cultural-district-and-cultural-land-trust-for-victoria/
The Longest Tapestry in the World comes to Metchosin from Iceland - Here is a snippet from my residency website - I was so excited to do this mini project for one week. Claudia Pétursson and I raised over $2500 for Metchosin Arts and Cultural Centre. They kindly gave back $1,000 to the tapestry project and became the first sponsors of the museum to be built in Iceland (TBD). Here is the snip, but you can read the whole post here.
Studio H Canada International Artist Residency and the Metchosin Arts and Cultural Centre are thrilled to announce that a section of the longest tapestry in the world – the Njálúrúfiln – is coming to Metchosin from May 12-19, 2025. We are celebrating the arrival of the tapestry section with a whole week of FREE events from the tapestry exhibition to talks, a film screening of The Day Iceland Stood Still, and hands-on embroidery workshops!!
2024
An incredibly busy year at the studio with artists coming from all over - check out the blog posts here. Travel to Europe was a big focus and I was thrilled to spend time at major galleries and museums in Amsterdam, Venice Biennale, Spain, and France. I also attended an art residency at Ras de Terra, Villa Nueva, Spain. I can't recommend this fabulous more!!
2023
In June I undertook an artist residency at the Icelandic Textile Centre in Blönduós. I worked mostly in the contemporary lab and did 22 projects in felting, 3d printing, digital knitting, tufting, and embroidery. Outside of the lab I experimented with cyanotype printing on fabric - I was curious how different the sun exposures would be in the north Atlantic, which is pretty much 24 hours a day sun. I will be creating a new page on my web site about this project.
I was invited to be Guest Artist and Juror for the Ekphrasis Exhibition at Metchosin ArtPod from September 30-November 20, 2023. My work was used for the cover illustration and we had a great turn out for the online artist talk. There are so many talented artists in this area!
2022
Finally getting artists coming to the Studio H Canada International Art Residency program after so many delays and interruptions because of Covid. Check out the new artists on the website here.
I am leading a major project for Xchanges Gallery and Studios in collaboration with Victoria Arts Council and Flux Media Gallery supported by the Canada Council, Digital Now stream. The Physical Intersections Digital Collaborations project brings together 10 multidiscipline/interdisciplinary artists and 3 curators in a collaborative project over 16 months. Check out the Phase 1 Projects - Lichens, Camber, and Nowhere Anywhere Portal Passage.
My work is being shown in a new international exhibition "You & I" curated by Aleks Ka Kusowska, (Poland/Ireland). See the website here.
2021
The AHA! Collective video “Littoral Zones: The Frontiers Between” has been accepted at the Lacuna Festivals 2021 International, Contemporary Art Festival: "Distance", Online, Canary Islands, Spain.
I have four pieces of work in a group exhibition, A Moment in Time at Xchanges Artists' Gallery and Studios - June 25-July 4
The Victoria Palaeontology Society has invited me to do a FREE Artist Talk - Under the Influence at Dinosaur Park Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 2pm. This will be a live Zoom and Facebook Live event and recorded for future viewing. Register for the Zoom invite here and RSVP to the Facebook event here.
I will have an accordion book structure Tableau of Memory and Dreams I at the ArtPod Gallery group exhibition entitled Re-Vision in Metchosin, BC
I have been accepted to an international exhibition, Turn the Page at Catapult Gallery, Southern Missouri University that will take place in March 2021. Three new accordion books will be in this exhibition and you can preview them on my YouTube Channel:
Tableau of Nostalgia 1, 2020
Tableau of Constraint I 2020
Tableau of Recovery- Coming Back to Life 1
Tableau of Nostalgia 1, 2020
Tableau of Constraint I 2020
Tableau of Recovery- Coming Back to Life 1
I will be participating in a virtual international art residency at PROYECTO´ACE in Buenos Aires starting in February. This residency is so exciting because I will be creating new work and collaborating with other international artists. During Covid this is more important than ever. The theme for this cohort is Frontier.
On January 21st I co-created and facilitated Moving Forms: Life Drawing with Dancers, drawing moving bodies. a collaborative workshop with choreographer Constance Cooke and Xchanges Gallery and Studios as part of Dance Days 2021. Over 55 people registered and with 49 attending! we spent two hours working through an experimental approach to drawing moving bodies - an exhilarating challenge. Our research is leading Constance and I into new territory and we will be launching a new collaborative project with iterative installations in 'analogue' and online space simultaneously. You can read the blog post on Xchanges site here.
2020
I launched Xchanges Gallery and Studios very first online exhibitions in December and the reception was wonderful with 75 people registering and over 65 people in attendance. The Covid 19 LIFE: Virtual Drawing in the Time of Covid has over 135 drawings by artists from Canada and the United States. You can check it out here. The second online exhibition launched simultaneously was the Xchanges annual members' exhibition - this year's theme was A Moment in Time, very appropriate given our current realities. You can see this show here.
